LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District is dealing with a severe bus driver shortage. As a result, many students are arriving late to school and missing hours of class each week.
“I am fortunate enough to have a vehicle and take my son to school but my daughter can’t," said Keith Johnson.
Johnson says he is constantly dealing with having to get her kids to school and them being late.
He also says his son's CCSD bus route is getting delayed or canceled and getting worse.
“It's just hard all the way around. It's just very irritating. You have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out alternatives,” Johnson said.
Parents are now going to great lengths to get their kids to class and are relying on rideshares like Uber and Lyft.
“We were raised don’t get in a car with a stranger and now you’re paying strangers to take you on a ride,” Uber driver Kristen Kinman said.
Kinman said almost every morning she sees kids trying to catch a ride.
“If they open the door. I’m sorry. I can’t take the trip. I would feel bad leaving that child,” Kinman said.
Kinman said parents order a ride for a child not knowing that companies like Uber and Lyft require passengers to be 18 or older to ride solo.
If a driver agrees to take somebody younger than that, Kinman says it could be bad news for them.
“I can't take the ride. I can't lose my job. They can kick me off the app. Picking up a minor is just not safe,” Kinman said.
