Continuing bus delays lead to expanding walk zones for Albemarle County Schools

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - More school bus delays are being reported Tuesday for Albemarle County students. It wasn’t as bad as Monday but Albemarle County Public Schools says problems like this are likely to continue for a while with the buses.

The school system says the delayed buses all represent consolidated routes. These were pieced together due to the driver shortage.

“Yesterday about 10 or 11, today it’s more like 7 or 8,” Phil Giaramita with Albemarle County Schools said. “But I think we are going to continue to see these type of numbers. We won’t go to zero any time soon, until some of these other measures have a chance or opportunity to kick in.”

ACPS says beginning October 11 elementary students will need to live at least a mile away from school to be eligible for bus service. Middle and high school students will need to be a mile and a half away.

Around 700 students will be impacted by this change. The hope is to prevent frustrations caused by the bus delays, which can all be linked back to the driver shortage.

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