School bus drivers needed in Richland County

RICHLAND COUNTY, SC (WOLO)- There’s a last minute push to fill nearly 30 empty driver seats as parents get their children ready for school.

Richland One has more than 200 bus drivers, but that’s still not enough compared to the amount of routes in the district.

Just a few days until school is back in session and the district is down 24 drivers.
“We’re still screening applications and still interviewing to hire school bus drivers,”Keith Terry, Manager for safety and training said.

Richland One is rolling out all the stops to find candidates.

“We have a few incentives that a lot of our neighboring districts or programs do not offer that keep us at a competitive rate,” Terry said.

The starting salary is $14.62, which is double South Carolina’s minimum wage, but that’s not all.

“We have an education incentive, where we have tuition reimbursement and we have an attendance incentive, and we also offer a safety incentive,” Terry said.

For people who have been in the career for years, they say the pay isn’t the only thing that makes them stay.

“Knowing that you got your students to and from school safely and every child is home and accounted for,” Brandon Broady said. “At the end of the day, everybody has a smile on their face.”

To find out how you can join Richland One, click here.