TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This year, TUSD switched to a hub transportation system after failing to hire enough drivers to bus all students through the neighborhood route system. The decision was announced the last week just ahead of classes starting. This left many families frustrated with the decision.
"We're not stopping until we call all 8,000," TUSD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo said in a board meeting on Tuesday evening. "They deserve a personal phone call, not a robocall so that they can engage with a live person to see where their; what their options are."
Dr. Trujillo added that they thought they were going to be able to have enough drivers when they raised the starting pay to $16 an hour, but it wasn't enough.
"We had visions of a flood of new applicants converging on the district," Dr. Trujillo said. "That simply did not happen."
They are still looking for more drivers and are currently in the process of adding 25 drivers. Dr. Trujillo said that more drivers and rethinking some of the hub routes will provide better service for TUSD families.
"We're going to have an opportunity to put routes back up with our neighborhood routes," Dr. Trujillo said. "That's something we want to do as quickly as possible."
