CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Parents in Cape Coral feel they were left high and dry after suddenly being told their student’s bus route was out of service.
“We were at the bus stop and no bus came," said Jeremiah Faust.
Faust's daughter attends Mid Cape Global Academy in Cape Coral and says he received a text message Sunday night and didn't see it until the next morning.
“You wake up Monday morning with a text that was sent at 8 o'clock Sunday night...pretty bad,” said Faust.
Here is the screenshot of that message, letting parents know that bus route 5 is out of service until further notice.
Faust said it was sent from A&S Transportation, the bus vendor employed by Mid Cape Global Academy.
“We spoke to some parents nobody knows anything..and a lot of kids missed school because of it,” he said.
In an effort to find out more, Fox 4 reached out to Mid Cape Global Academy to ask about the sudden change.
A statement issued by the school’s public relations team said:
As we all continue to struggle with a nationwide shortage of bus drivers, we are pleased that our vendor, A&S Transportation is actively recruiting and training drivers. The process to train takes eight weeks and there are currently 16 candidates in the process with six more preparing to graduate. In the meantime, unfortunately, several drivers either quit or just didn’t show up for work with no notice, so A&S was forced to abruptly cancel a route until drivers are ready in that area
Other states like Massachusetts have been seen pulling resources like the national guard to drive buses for their school districts.
In cape coral, Faust says its rideshare companies like Uber.
“It’s gonna cost $45 or $50 a day to have her dropped off and picked up privately..I think they need to reimburse some of these tax dollars if we are covering this,” said Faust
On Tuesday, A&S Transportation told Fox 4 they do not have a driver to cover Faust's route.
They anticipate that service for this route will be back within the next couple of weeks.
A&S Transportation says they are currently looking for bus drivers, if you would like to apply, click here.
