TORRINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut school district is turning to a limousine service company to help transport students to school because of a bus driver shortage that’s been exacerbated by the pandemic.
The Torrington Public Schools district plans to use some of its $5.9 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to pay Carriage & Limousine Services of Oxford to help cover its 53 bus routes. The private company has said it can provide 30 passenger buses and 10 passenger vans to cover morning bus runs on an emergency basis and afternoon runs more regularly, the Waterbury Republican-American reported.
The company charges $125 an hour for passenger buses and $87.50 an hour for passenger vans.
All-Star Transportation, the city’s main bus provider, has had difficulty finding enough drivers, which has caused morning delays and prevented most after-school programs, the superintendent of schools, Susan Lubomski, recently told the Board of Education.
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