It’s been almost two years since Stafford County Transportation has been operating at less than standard capacity. On August 9th, the first day back for students, the county resumed transportation as if it were just another day. As the school year picks up, students are left behind. 

The first day of school started off disoriented, with bus delays throughout the county. Even a month into the school year, this is still an issue.

 “I expected there to be some delays of course, but I had hoped they would have it figured out by now,” Brenna Elchenko, Junior said. By the end of week one though, chaos had set in. Students were arriving extremely late to class, sometimes missing first block entirely. Bus drivers were scrambling to pick up their students in time, as well as those who weren’t on their scheduled route. These inconsistencies may depict the system as untrustworthy.  

“My mother has to drive me to school everyday because we can’t trust the timing of the bus,” junior, Mridula Manikandan said. “Then if I get on [the bus], there’s a ton of students from different routes. The whole bus is already packed”. 

Stafford county says they are actively working to improve these inconveniences. The county called a school board meeting on September 21st to discuss transportation matters. After the meeting, a brief email was sent by the Interim Superintendent Stanley B. Jones regarding new strategies.

“Just recently, more than 40 drivers began training with an additional 70 offered letters of intent after our job fair last Saturday.” he states. 

As students experience delays with morning travel, afternoons are not exempt. While school dismisses at 3:30pm, some students are still in the building as late as 5:00pm, interrupting