INDIANAPOLIS — More bus drivers are reporting for work this morning in Indianapolis.
Monday was another day of several drivers call off in a coordinated sick day in protest of a plan by the city’s school district to hire a private vendor to take over bus service. Supt. Aleesia Johnson said they were able to cover most of the route.
“We had a plan it the numbers did not continue to increase overnight that we’d be able to cover the routes for the call-offs,” Johnson said. “We looked again at these numbers and we felt confident that we could cover the routes and make sure our students were at school.”
Today she expects most if not all drivers to be back out covering their bus routes. In the meantime, she said IPS is doing all it can to work with the union that represents the bus drivers to ensure a smooth transition in bus service.
“In this transition, we’ve offered some additional compensation and bonuses for things like attendance,” she added. “Those things have been under discussion for the last month. So, again we want to make sure we’re on the same page moving forward.”
Some bus drivers fear they could lose their job in the transition.
Little to no issues were reported in getting kids to school Monday. IndyGo offered to extend its partnership with IPS to allow middle school and elementary school students to take IndyGo busses to school, a privilege normally only for high school students.
