More Fayette County school bus routes canceled amid driver shortage

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Several Fayette County school bus routes are canceled Thursday morning because of an ongoing driver shortage.

Here are the routes the cancellations will affect:

• Bus 874, Deep Springs Elementary
• Bus 2126, The Stables, Leestown Middle School and Dunbar High School
• Bus 217, Dixie Elementary School, Bryan Station High School, and Lexington Traditional Magnet School
• Bus 613, Brenda Cowan Elementary, Henry Clay High School, and MLK Academy
• Bus 877, Tates Creek Middle School and Tates Creek High School
• Bus 974, Garrett Morgan Elementary and Frederick Douglas High School
• Bus 14, Lansdowne Elementary, Tates Creek High School, and Edith J. Hayes Middle School
• Bus 770, Harrison Elementary and Bryan Station Middle School

Last week, the district canceled four routes on the second day of school.

To say it’s inconvenience might be an understatement, based on the people we’ve spoken with. Parents were not happy when they learned that those eight school bus routes were canceled Thursday morning.

Onegrand parent we talked to says that the lack of notice is what was really frustrating.

“It leaves the parents in a situation of, ‘what do I do with my kids?’” said Laquita Washington.

Washington tells us her two grandchildren had their routes canceled Thursday morning, going to Dixie Elementary and Edith J. Hayes Middle School.

Normally, those students are ready to get on the bus by 6:30, which means when the school system called them at 6 a.m. they had to scramble to figure something out.

Washington says her grandchildren were also impacted by bus routes being closed last week, and she doesn’t think it will get much better.

Washington tells us she understands that due to COVID it can be hard to know how many drivers will be available on any given day, but she think that some sort of back up plan should have already been discussed.

“I know they can’t help people getting sick, but at the same time it’s something that should have been a consideration when they were trying to work out all the details or getting the kids back and forth to school,” said Washington. “It’s not fair for kids to have to keep on missing school because they don’t have any transportation to get to school.”

Washington did tell us that her family did find a way to get their students home from school without the bus, but she hopes that school officials take another look at what they can do to help parents in this kind of situation.

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