Early in the year, trying to find a spot on the bus has been troublesome for many.

“It’s been hectic. It’s like, every morning people are standing on the aisles, sitting on the floor, people are rushing to get on the bus, and it’s just terrible,” Tyra Comick (10) said.

“It had to be like three to a seat and people were standing up. Even on steps where you have to get on the bus. We were sitting on there,” Xander Rodriguez (12) said.

Even with the desperate measures students have taken to fit inside the bus, not all students are capable of fitting within the bus safely.

“Some of the issues that are popping up right now are students not being able to get on their bus…which does make students a little bit more frustrated,” Assistant Principal Patrick Jackson said.

Administration requests and student complaints regarding bus issues have not been in vain. The district is well aware of the overcrowding issues inside buses.

“I fully understand that some of our buses have more students on then feel comfortable to ride. So I do know that there’s an issue were kids are not happy with the spacing on the buses,” WPS Director of Transportation Lisa Riveros said.

According to the district the issue isn’t due to the number of student riders. this issue is being caused by something else.

“The overcrowding on the buses is not due to the number of student riders that you have at Southeast. Instead, it’s just due to an overall drivers shortage that we have … We need more and more so that we can get more buses on the road,” Riveros said.

Students say safety on buses is being restored slowly but surely.

“I do feel safer now than I did the first couple of days,” Rodriguez said. “Well, I don’t know about the other buses but mine at least got flipped. So, that’s helped it.”