If you are a student or teacher at Capital High School, you may have noticed a number of late buses coming in this year. Sometimes they’re just a couple of minutes late and sometimes they’re up to 10-15 minutes late. So why are buses arriving late and how long will these delays go on for?

Late buses create concerns about students missing the beginning of class and possibly feeling out of control or worrying about getting unnecessary tardies; But it’s important to know that Capital has a new protocol that helps to prevent some of these issues.               

In previous years, the intercom has been used to announce late buses as they come in. This would cause disruptions throughout the entire school. This year, students are provided with a late bus pass as they get off a bus that has arrived late. These passes can then be given to their teacher to excuse them from being recorded as tardy. It’s also important for teachers to know that the color of the bus passes changes from day to day, therefore passes can’t be reused.

Late buses aren’t all that unusual, especially at the beginning of the year. There are several factors that contribute to these delays that need to be considered. When discussing the causes of late buses, our Dean of Students, Michael Lunde said “At the beginning of the school year there’s always a handful of new bus drivers that have joined the district,” and that “the routes change slightly.” Which takes adjusting for the drivers. It may take some time to get used to the unpredictability of traffic, timing of new routes, and because some of our buses go to both middle and elementary schools as well, coordination between schools. This is a huge part of why buses may be late.

When interviewing Ms. Rafferty, the director of the Olympia School District bus department, she said we’re currently dealing with bus driver shortages and that we’re “always in need”. These shortages create “overcrowded buses” making routes longer and more complex, which is another reason it may take a while for bus drivers to get the routes down. The entire district is dealing with these shortages. This relates to how Mr.Lunde said the issues are “More at the Olympia school district level.” and that it’s not just capital alone. So if you know anybody who may be interested in working as an Olympia School District bus driver let them know to check out the Olympic School District website bus driver needed announcement page or to contact [email protected].

Capital has been working to deal with late buses in the most efficient way possible, starting with the change to late bus passes. “There’s always ironing out the details and that causes buses to be late.” Meaning we should see less and less late buses as the year goes on!