(TNS) — Howard County, Md., Executive Calvin Ball announced Wednesday a new partnership with the Howard County Public School System and the Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland to address student transportation concerns.
The Howard school system, like many across the nation, is facing a bus driver shortage brought on by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the efforts of partner organizations across the county to assist bus contractors in attracting more drivers, the school system’s independent contractors only have 80 percent of the more than 400 drivers necessary to cover all of the routes, which comes out to about 93 vacancies, according to a county schools news release.
To further address this issue, the school system has partnered with the RTA to provide free access to public transportation for county middle and high public school students.
“One of our priorities is to ensure that all Howard County residents have safe, accessible and reliable public transportation no matter what their age or ability,” Ball said at a news conference outside Long Reach High School in Columbia.
“We know that transportation can be a critical barrier to opportunity, and we continue to work to break down those barriers so that all members in our community can thrive, including our younger residents who are eager to resume after-school activities, volunteer opportunities and after-school jobs at the start of a new year.”
Students can pick up the bus passes at their schools’ administrative offices when classes begin next week, and they will then have free access to the RTA’s fleet of buses until September 2022, Ball said.
In early 2022, Ball said students will be able to download a transit app, allowing them to use a digital bus pass on their mobile device.
Students will be able to use the RTA buses to travel to and from school, as well as to and from after-school activities, like jobs and…