On Tuesday, May 6th, it was announced that activity period buses are going to be coming at 4:30 instead of 2:55. Students are expected to stay with their teacher until the end of the activity period and then wait in the cafeteria until the buses arrive.

The hour-and-a-half wait for students who have to take the bus is highly inconvenient. It might discourage those students from staying after and studying, even if they need it. This could also impact the number of people attending club meetings, which can hurt smaller clubs. 

This is happening because of Victor’s bus driver shortage. Simply put, there aren’t enough people to drive students home all at once. These issues affect everyone who needs transportation for school, sports, field trips, and other activities. 

This lack of busing is not new this year. For example, in 2021, the Victor bowling team was unable to have a bus at all. The team had to carpool with parents and load all their bowling equipment into trucks instead of the space below the bus. 

Lack of bus drivers is also not unique to Victor. Many other schools in the area struggle to get buses, which is most evident when sports events are delayed because another district can’t get there in time.

Why aren’t there enough drivers? It might be that being a bus driver is usually a thankless job. Kids are always standing while the bus is moving, screaming, throwing things, and otherwise being very distracting to bus drivers. Driving a school bus also requires a specific license, which means that it’s hard to find people qualified, even if they are interested. 

For now, our district will have to adapt. Those who don’t live close enough to walk, don’t have anyone to drive them, or cannot drive themselves, have to bear the brunt of this bus driver shortage. Hopefully, this will be temporary, and we can get back to the normal 2:55 departure time.