In the latest signal that the new school year is almost here, details on more than 1,500 bus routes across the county are now available to families on the school system’s website.
The routes, available at www.aacps.org/buses, reflect the immense amount of work done over the last year by the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Transportation Department, and the Board of Education’s consultant, Prismatic Services, Inc., to find efficiencies in routes and align them with the healthier start times to which the school system is shifting this fall. As part of those efficiencies, some stops may have been relocated or consolidated. With fewer stops across the county than in years past, some students will need to walk farther to get to those stops. Families are urged to locate their student’s stop and to practice walking routes to and from that stop prior to the start of school.
As was reported to the Board of Education earlier this summer, AACPS continues to feel the same effects of the ongoing bus driver shortage that is plaguing Maryland and the nation. The school system anticipates beginning the 2022-2023 school year with approximately 45-50 bus driver vacancies, about the same number as existed at the end of last year.
A list of routes for which a contractor has not yet secured a driver will be published the week of August 22, 2022. That list will be updated each weekday.
Daily postings of buses which will not be running, which will be delayed, or which will have a substitute bus will continue to be posted at www.aacps.org/buses. AACPS is developing a notification system to which families will be able to subscribe to receive messages to a number of their choosing for such occurrences. That system is expected to go live in the coming weeks.
A full listing of 2022-2023 hours for all schools can be found here.
An upgraded feature on the AACPS website can help families determine the schools of attendance for their students and whether those students are eligible for bus transportation. That feature can be found at www.aacps.org/locateyourschool.