The state Department of Education has suspended bus services on Kauaʻi’s east and north sides due to a lack of workforce.
Bus routes to Kapaʻa High School, Middle School and Elementary School, as well as Hanalei Elementary, were canceled for the upcoming academic year.
But local nonprofit Hanalei Initiative is expanding its services to connect students to the Kauaʻi Bus. Executive Director Joel Guy said they started working on this a few weeks ago.
"It's part of our route," Guy said. "We take tons of tourists visitors out to the state park, and then the shuttles are empty coming home. So it made perfect sense for us to help support the community by facilitating a couple of shuttles in the morning that can solve, hopefully, some of that problem."
The shuttle’s main job is to bring visitors from Waipa to Keʻe Beach and Haʻena State Park at the end of Kuhio Highway. Using the same schedule, they’re able to connect students to county bus services free of charge.
The shuttle works on a timed schedule. The 6:20 a.m. bus will transport high school students to Kapaʻa, and the 6:40 a.m. bus will take elementary students.
"Because the system has about five to 10 minutes built into it organically, there is that extra playroom to get them into the school and pull off and be safe and then get back to the bus stop to pick up all the visitors and take them out to the for the next run," Guy said.
About half a dozen students used the bus Monday morning, but Guy already heard from more interested families.
"We do see it filling up pretty quickly, but even then you're getting kids safely from a bus stop to a school. There’s no gray area there, right?"
More information can be found here.
