Propel McKeesport no longer providing bus transportation to students due to driver shortages

MCKEESPORT, Pa. — Propel McKeesport students are no longer receiving transportation due to driver shortages.

“I think it’s ridiculous that they give us less than 24 hours’ notice that they are not going to provide busing,” said Propel McKeesport parent Stephanie Graham, in reference to an email Propel McKeesport school officials sent to parents. It states that the bus company Krise is having a driver shortage and can no longer provide transportation for Propel McKeesport families. This affects more than 280 students at the school.

“We pay taxes in the school district just like everybody else and they cut us first and then it trickles down. But it’s ridiculous in my opinion,” said Graham.

The bus driver shortage is also affecting the length of the school day for students in the McKeesport Area School District.

“We’re going to double runs for the high school, middle school and elementary school kids which means kids won’t get to school until late and they are not getting home until late,” said Krise Transportation Regional Manager Sean Dobich.

Dobich says his company just got the contract from the district earlier this year and a lawsuit prevented them from recruiting drivers.

“For the Propel kids, we feel bad because we started picking up those kids last week and now, we have to shift gears and go pick up the public-school kids.”

Dobich says they’re offering $22 an hour, a $2,000 signing bonus and a gas card, and are still short of half the number of drivers they need. He tells Channel 11 the other problem is that some applicants can’t pass the local, state, and federal background checks.

“In a neighboring district, we had over 75 people apply and only two made it through the process,” said Dobich.

Graham says she won’t have a problem getting her kids to school, but she’s concerned about the other students who depend on the school bus.

“I want to tell the district they need to get their stuff in order. I mean, if this was such an issue, why we didn’t know about it two weeks ago.”

The transportation company tells Channel 11 they’re working on a fix to the problem but for now, their focus is on the public-school students.

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