GF Public Schools to use city buses to help driver shortage

The Grand Forks Public Schools and the city of Grand Forks are collaborating on a temporary fix to solve the shortage of bus drivers that’s impacting local students.

City Area Transit (CAT) buses will be available to help students get to school, along with the school district’s regular carrier, Dietrich Bus Service.

Beginning Thursday, “CAT” buses will serve Central High School… Valley Middle School… and Century and Lake Aggasiz Elementary Schools.

Dietrich buses will serve Schroeder and South Middle Schools…and Discovery, Viking, Kelly and Wilder Elementary Schools… with the Wilder bus also picking up Valley and Central students.

On Monday parents were notified the lack of drivers could mean some students would have to find their own way to school. Around 950 students requested transportation through the online registration.

Grand Forks school officials say all “CAT” bus drivers have had the same background checks as school bus drivers… and there may be other people riding on a “CAT” bus.

Officials say there will be no cost to families for using “CAT” or Dietrich buses.

The school system is working on a process to reimburse families that purchased Dietrich bus tickets.

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From GF Superintendent Terry Brenner:

Grand Forks Public Schools has worked with the City of Grand Forks and Dietrich Bus Service to help create new regular route busing.

Beginning Thursday, August 26, regular route busing will be as follows:

Century Elementary School: City Area Transit Route 8 (purple route) and Route 9 (purple route) will be used with some alterations to the stop times.
Discovery Elementary School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used. There will be a Google Map available.
Elroy Schroeder Middle School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used. There will be a Google Map available.
Grand Forks Central High School: City Area Transit Route 5 (green route) will be used with some alterations to the stop times.
J Nelson Kelly Elementary School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used. There will be a Google Map available.
Lake Agassiz Elementary School: City Area Transit Route 5 (green route) will be used with some alterations to the stop times.
South Middle School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used. There will be a Google Map available.
Valley Middle School: City Area Transit Route 5 (green route) will be used with some alterations to the stop times. Route 1/2 (red route) is also available; a monitor will not be on this bus.
Viking Elementary School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used. There will be a Google Map available.
Wilder Elementary School: A Dietrich yellow bus will be used that will also pick up Valley Middle School and Grand Forks Central High School students. There will be a Google Map available.

Additional details:

We will send another communication later today as soon as the City Area Transit and Google Maps have been updated.
There will be a sign in the front window of the City Area Transit buses with the name of the destination school. The route color will also be identified on the exterior of the bus.
All City Area Transit bus drivers have had the same background checks as school bus drivers.
There may be other patrons riding on a City Area Transit bus. There will be bus monitors with the exception noted above.
There may be an instance where a bus arrives after the second bell. Students will not be counted as tardy.
A smartphone app is available to track the location of the City Area Transit buses. Please note: the most recent changes to the map routes will be made as soon as possible.

- For Android users, please visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.syncromatics.rtpi.grandforks&hl=en_US&gl=US.
- For Apple users, please visit https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cat-prowler/id1437839884.

There are cameras on the buses being used.
There will be no bus tickets or cost to families for utilizing City Area Transit or Dietrich buses.
We are continuing to work on a process to reimburse families who had purchased bus tickets for Dietrich Busing. We will communicate this information as soon as the process has been finalized.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines, all persons using public transportation (i.e.: school buses, vans, and other public transportation) will wear face coverings for the duration of their ride (LINK: https://www.transportation.gov/safety/mask-travel-guidance).

Thank you once again for your considerable patience and understanding as we worked collaboratively with the City of Grand Forks and Dietrich Bus Service to create a solution.

Superintendent Dr. Terry Brenner