Prince George’s County officials said they’re still short bus drivers, despite making progress addressing the shortage over the last few years.

PGCPS officials provided an update on their transportation action plan at a Board of Education meeting on Thursday. The plan was finalized in January 2024 after the school system made recommendations to improve their transportation system based off of an audit conducted earlier that school year.

The school system is still missing about 148 full-time bus drivers for this school year, causing transportation staff to cover additional routes, according to transportation director Keba Baldwin.

“This directly impacts our on-time performance and creates understandable frustration for our families,” Baldwin said.

About 68 percent of PGCPS students take a bus to school, according to a presentation at the meeting.

PGCPS began the 2023-24 school year with a shortage of about 200 bus drivers, the audit read. But the school system was able to recruit 30 more full time drivers between October 2023 and June 2025, according to Baldwin.

Baldwin told The Diamondback the school system has had difficulty recruiting and retaining bus driving staff since the COVID-19 pandemic.

[PGCPS began school year short about 140 bus drivers]

During the meeting, Baldwin said the school system has made “tangible efficiency gains” to their bussing system since the October 2023 audit.

As part of the first phase of the action plan, PGCPS shifted some school’s bell times to make it easier for buses to get students to their destinations on time. As a result, the school system was started providing an additional 47 daily routes as of June and increased the average number of trips conducted per vehicle.

The school system is continuing to find new ways to improve recruitment and retention of their bus drivers, according to Curtis Eugene, a senior human resources partner at PGCPS.

Eugene said the HR department designated a recruiter to manage transportation hiring efforts and has hosted driver recruitment events. The department also started allowing applicants to apply for the position without paying fees to get their driving records.

Eugene said 55 people are undergoing the hiring process for the full-time position.

The school system has received 260 applications for the full time role since August 1, but more than half of them were ineligible due to Maryland bus driver regulations. Eugene said people who have certain traffic violations, such as driving under the influence or while impaired, cannot get a commercial drivers license.

[PGCPS looks to use data to accelerate student growth]

Chief operating officer Charoscar Coleman said the county is will continue focusing on reliability, communication and safety as the school system transitions to the second phase of the plan.

Baldwin said the school system is working to improve communication with families by sending out letters and alerts about bus routes through Google Classroom and other messaging systems.

He added that the school system is transitioning to a new bus tracking app called Chipmunk because the current app does not always report bus locations and arrival times accurately.

At least 7,000 county residents have already downloaded Chipmunk, which should be fully phased in by the school system’s winter break, according to Coleman.

Moving forward, Baldwin said his department will continue to address issues relating to student transportation.

“We’ve made some real progress,” Baldwin said. “Better efficiency, higher seat utilization, more stability, but challenges still remain with staffing and timeliness.”