Mon Schools forced to cancel routes for Monday due to driver no-shows: Meanwhile, electric bus set to transport students in pilot run

Nov. 1—Tony Harris says he'll be a little more charged up Tuesday than he was the day before.

"It's been interesting, " the transportation director for Monongalia County Schools said, describing the day.

That's because it was a Blue Monday at the bus garage.

Four drivers called off that day, which meant four cancellations of routes — since there are currently no substitute operators to fill the driver's seat in Bus No. 276.

Or 314.

Same for Nos. 362 and 378, respectively.

As many as 200 students were affected, Harris said, in a swath running from the Cheat Lake Elementary attendance area to the Brookhaven Elementary attendance area.

Right now, Harris said, the transportation department has "just enough " drivers to the handle 111 routes that average around 13, 000 miles a year on bus odometers.

"The substitutes we had are all full-time now, " he said.

Four new hires, however, are currently in training, and will be ready to pilot buses soon, should they decide to stay with it.

One recent applicant didn't.

"He decided it wasn't for him, " Harris said.

In the meantime, Harris' earlier "charged up " comment can be taken literally.

His district has signed up for a pilot program with electric bus manufacturer GreenPower Motor Co., which recently set up operations in Charleston and will begin rolling out its signature vehicles from there soon.

GreenPower's all-electric BEAST bus — it stands for, "battery electric alternative school transportation " — hits the road in Mon on Wednesday for a six-week pilot run that goes through Dec. 23.

A press conference with school officials, plus local and state lawmakers will be 1 p.m. today at the district bus garage at Mylan Park.

Harris, who drove a school bus for 20 years before steering into administration, said he'll definitely take a turn behind the wheel.

"I want to see the mileage you get between charges, " he said.

Look for the bus everywhere from Point Marion Road to Suncrest, he said.

"We want it on the rural roads and in the stop-and-go traffic, " Harris said. "We want to see what it can do. We've got a diversity of driving conditions.

GreenPower's vice president of business development strategy is driving the same data-road.

"You've got a lot more mountain terrain and we'll have a little more cold weather, " Mark Nestler told Board of Education members last week.

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