NRTA To Provide Deviated Bus Routes For School Pick-Up & Drop-Off

A resolution to Nantucket’s school bus driver shortage may finally be on the horizon.

“I am cautiously optimistic,” Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said at the School Committee’s meeting Tuesday.

After months of desperately searching for an answer to the crisis that has forced the district to eliminate bus service for all students in grades 7-12 and students in all grades living within two miles of the school, Nantucket Public Schools administration announced Tuesday that the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority will be able to provide deviations to its Old South and Airport bus routes to transport students in grades 7-12 living in those regions of the island to and from school.

“We cannot thank you enough,” Hallett said.

NRTA administrator Gary Roberts said that federal laws prevent the NRTA from doing school bus work. But what the NRTA can do is deviate from its usual routes to stop in locations that are convenient for students at the times those students need to be picked up for school. Other members of the public can still ride these buses, but especially in the off-season, ridership will likely be predominantly students.

“This was done very quickly. There’s still a lot of work that we have to do to get everything figured out,” Roberts said. “We have to figure out how we can carry this many students along with our regular riders.”

Perhaps even more importantly, the School Committee will review bids from companies seeking to take over the operation of Nantucket’s school buses at its next meeting later this month. Those companies may be able to provide the drivers to truly end the shortage and bring bus services back to Nantucket’s children.

Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett told the Current that she could not comment on the applications Tuesday.

Faced with a crisis-level shortage—the district currently has only one driver certified to drive a classic “big bus” school bus—the School Committee has had to enact “last resort” changes to the district’s bus policies, and school administrators have agreed to allow certain students to arrive up to half an hour late to school without repercussion as long as the shortage persists.

Those policies are still in place, even with the NRTA’s help, but there is now significant cause for hope.

“While tonight’s news is incredibly uplifting, we are still going to have to start school without the bussing that we need,” Hallett said. “Once again, I ask for everyone’s patience as we continue to seek a permanent solution to the problem and work toward reinstating transportation to more students within the next several weeks or months.”

All NRTA buses, including the buses specifically deviating for the schools, are free to ride.

“This is outstanding news,” School Committee vice chair Vince Murphy said.

Nantucket has been dealing with a shortage of bus drivers off and on for years, but the shortage became a serious crisis last spring and has been the defining issue of the summer for the district.

“It’s a beautiful example of the community coming together,” School Committee member Laura Gallagher Byrne said of the NRTA’s assistance.