Statement From Birnie Bus
December 13, 2019
Issue - Late Buses for Utica City School District – Recently, school buses from Birnie Bus, the District’s
transportation service provider, have been late in picking up and dropping off students, causing
inconvenience and anxiety for those students, parents and school staff affected. Additionally, the volume of
calls into our transportation office has overwhelmed our staff, leaving some parents without answers to their
questions.
First, we apologize to all those students and parents impacted by the current school bus route delays. We
are working hard to both resolve the situation and also to better communicate with parents and school
administrators about specific routes so they, at a minimum, can make appropriate decisions and plans.
Secondly, we want to inform you about the root cause of the problem, our actions to address it and, most
importantly, how long it may take to return to normal, timely schedules.
Why is this happening? There is currently a critical shortage of qualified drivers affecting the school bus
industry in the United States. This has been a persistent problem for many years, but has become acute
during the current low unemployment environment. The driver shortage stems from several factors,
including high driver turnover rates, a long and cumbersome certification process resulting from more
stringent regulatory requirements, and "lifestyle priorities" that make competing industries more attractive.
The school bus industry is not alone. All industries utilizing CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) certified drivers
are suffering. The trucking industry, for example, conservatively estimates it is short 60,000 drivers in the
U.S. and it expects that number to triple within the next five years. School districts throughout New York have
not been immune to these conditions.
What is Birnie Bus doing to solve the problem? Birnie Bus has been vigorously working to address this
problem. Steps we’ve taken thus far include:
 Instituted a wage increase for our Drivers and Monitors in September 2019 and have announced
another increase effective for January 2020.
 Sign-on bonuses for fully licensed drivers and driver trainees
 Enhanced Employee Referral Bonus Program
 Online job postings (Indeed)
 Social Media (Facebook, Instagram)
 Jointeambirnie.com webpage for Drivers, Monitors & Mechanics
 Ads in local papers
 Scheduled job fairs/open interview sessions with NYS DOL – Workforce Development Center
 Veterans outreach program
 Community groups outreach program
 Rome community job fairs (outreach, job fairs, publication – launch magazine, Facebook)
 Field recruiting efforts:

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Flyers in local businesses, libraries, community centers
Yard signs
Banners on buses, parked in high-traffic areas
Recruiting at community fairs and events

 If these measures fail to fully meet our needs and open routes remain, we resort to using other staff
members to fill in the gaps. Any Birnie Bus employee who drives will have passed the rigorous CDL
test and be fully prepared to safely navigate the bus route. While not an ideal solution, this has
allowed Birnie Bus to mitigate the problem and cover routes.
 Further, we have recommendations to share with the Board intended to add route efficiencies and
reduce route times, particularly with Late Run Buses.
 Lastly, we are investing in additional resources to effectively staff our phone response operations.
We have invested substantially in these efforts and will continue to do so.
Thus far in 2019, we have recruited, trained and on-boarded 36 new drivers for the Utica operation. In 2018,
we recruited, trained and on-boarded 42 new drivers for this market. This hiring and training process is very
challenging. We have recognized it as such and dedicated the resources to address it.
When will this be resolved? With the economy surging and unemployment at historic low levels, this driver
shortage condition will not soon be resolved. However, we are encouraged that our past, and current, actions
have generated 7 applicants currently in classroom training and an additional 6 driver candidates currently
in the behind-the-wheel stage of training. Our primary and unrelenting focus will be on recruiting, training
and on-boarding drivers with the necessary skills and proper attitudes to transport Utica City School District
students safely and effectively.