Western Dubuque bus driver shortage now threatens daily operations; district offers up to $3,000 hiring bonuses

Western Dubuque's school bus driver shortage has reached the point where it threatens daily operations, Superintendent Dr. Dan Butler told the Dyersville Commercial. The district, the largest by land area in Iowa at 555 square miles, runs 27 morning and afternoon routes covering a combined 1,661 miles each day, with more than 3,200 students and 2,800 of them riding a bus. "We are down five to seven drivers from this time last year," Butler said, and the district can no longer absorb the gap by combining routes or relying on substitutes. "The difference between this year and previous years is we are getting to the point of this being urgent care or a crisis as opposed to an inconvenience," he said. Transportation Director Steve Driscoll said the district is short 10 drivers, with the biggest need on afternoon routes, and he has to fill 55 routes each week, nearly all of them afternoon runs. Drivers start at $22.83 an hour and can move up to $25.43, and the school board recently approved one-time hiring bonuses of $3,000 for drivers hired for morning and afternoon routes between now and December 2026, $1,500 for afternoon-only, $1,000 for morning-only and $500 for substitute driving, paid on the driver's one-year anniversary. The district held a bus rodeo at Western Dubuque High School Oct. 31 to recruit drivers. Maquoketa Valley is also seeking one full-time route driver, with a retiree filling in, Superintendent Troy Osterhaus said; the district has seven morning and afternoon routes, down from eight a year ago. Edgewood-Colesburg, where Osterhaus also serves as superintendent, has all six routes filled.