The bus driver shortage is no longer a state of emergency, according to the Hawaiʻi Department of Education. This is a drastic change from last year when more than 138 bus routes were suspended, impacting 3,500 students.
That number is now down to eight routes on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island.
The DOE has taken a few strategies to help students get to school. Besides hiring more bus drivers, it has expanded the EXPRESS program that provides free bus passes for middle and high school students.
The department is also using a carpool app called GoKid. The app is being piloted in Mililani on Oʻahu and in Kakaulike on Maui in 14 schools.
“I know that there was some miscommunication that was on the news when the program first launched,” DOE Superintendent Keith Hayashi said at a recent board meeting. “GoKid is not a ride-share service. It helps parents arrange carpools among families within the school community, not with anonymous or assigned drivers. Parents can message other families, arrange to meet and build trust before deciding whether to carpool or not.”
The app visually looks similar to a ride-share app. There is live GPS tracking, a map of families in your area, and a place to schedule a ride. But the app is intended to work similarly to an organized group chat.
This is the first partnership GoKid has had with an education department in the nation. GoKid declined to give a full list of schools it partners with, but a partial list provided showed a majority of private and charter schools. More than 160 families in the state are currently participating in the pilot program.
In Mililani, where the app is being piloted, 38 families at Mililani Middle School are using the app, according to Vice Principal Errol Hahn. Mililani Middle is the state’s largest middle school with more than 1,672 students. The school is not located in a central location for the sprawling district; around one-third of students commute by bus, and there is only one road to get there.
“I'm very grateful that Mililani was one of the selected,” state Rep. Trish La Chica said. “Communities benefit from this, but I think it really helped that we had neighbors that were already organizing carpools.”
During the peak of the bus shortages last year, Gov. Josh Green signed an emergency proclamation to allow alternative vehicles like charter buses and motor coaches to replace school buses.
La Chica was a leader in pushing the proclamation to become law. That was passed this past May. However, there hasn’t been any enforcement of the law by the DOE.
“ When I reached out to them and when vendors reach out to them,” La Chica said, “they told us that they would have to wait for the next procurement cycle, and that could be years away."
"When we consulted with the attorney general, the current contract does give them the authority to amend the contracts. Now it's just very challenging and it is complex because it requires a willingness both on the department as well as from the current contractors to act.”
Besides the eight routes that are suspended this year, other previously canceled routes have not returned.
Mililani Middle School students who live by the Mauka District Park and took the bus had their route canceled last year, according to La Chica.
Students who live within a 1.5-mile radius of a school do not qualify for bus service. The students by the Mililani park, however, live right outside the radius.
La Chica thinks there is already a solution not being utilized.
”I don't think we should be waiting,” she said. “That's why we passed this bill, so that we can avert a crisis.”
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 3, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
