ROCHESTER, Minn.- Rochester First Student says after a summer hiring push its made a lot of progress in addressing an ongoing bus driver shortage.

Michael Pearse, location manager for the Rochester branch says ahead of the 2025-2026 school year, his office has managed to hire 10 new drivers.

He credits the reason for the shortage to several reasons, but he says some of the biggest are that most people feel intimidated driving a vehicle as large as a school bus and as a part time position it can sometimes be challenging to attract new talent.

His office has sought to address those concerns in a number of ways by hosting days where the community can come out and try driving a bus for themselves with licensed supervision and prospective applicants can call and schedule their own test drive

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