The Horry County School district has battled a bus driver vacancy problem for more than a year. 

The district needed a busload of additional drivers going into last school year. 

They’re seeing much better numbers ahead of the first day this year. 

A bus driver is the first and last face your kid sees during the school day. “A lot of times they come on they’re sad,” said Mike Durrick, a bus driver for the county.  “We’ll try and cheer them up and be friendly with them.”

A bus driver plays a big part in a child’s day, but over the last year the Horry County School district has had some trouble keeping them around. 

Last year the district started out with between forty and fifty vacancies. 

At one point last fall, the district was so short on drivers that anyone with a proper license was asked to take kids home. 

“In our minds it was crazy,” Durrick said. “A lot of shortages, a lot of extra routes that you had to do.”

The county has worked all year to fill those vacancies. 

The key in doing that was a dollar per hour pay increase approved by the school board earlier this year. Drivers will now earn between $13 and $17.40 per hour.

The pay raise not only allowed the district to hire new drivers but also to retain long-time employees. 

“I think our drivers through our training program and things that we’ve offered here will be able to stick with us a little bit longer,” said Jim Wright, Director of Transportation. 

This year’s bus fleet includes 380 full-time bus drivers, 16 assigned relief drivers and six substitute drivers.

As of Monday, the district is short seven drivers. “It’s the best we’ve ever been at this time of the year since I’ve been here since ’95,” Wright said. 

But Wright said school districts, including Horry County, are constantly battling vacancies. 

“Most of your large hotels throughout the Grand Strand have some type of shuttle service that if it’s built for more than 16 passengers, they have to have a CDL license,” Wright told News13 last fall. “So, you’re competing with them as well as Coastal Carolina who runs buses and stuff. Most of the people that drive out there, used to drive for me at one point in time,” he said. 

The district wants to remind people to be patient with the bus times during the first few weeks of school. It takes some time to work out the kinks, but the buses should be running normally by Labor Day. 

To find your bus stop and more route information click here.