ST. LOUIS (KMOV) – It’s lower than per week earlier than St. Louis Public Schools opens its doorways for the primary day. That offers mother and father lower than per week to work out how they’re getting their children to school after the district introduced the suspension of some bus companies earlier this week. Now, one group of drivers fears the burden could possibly be positioned of their lap, which is towards firm coverage.
“I’m a single mom. I don’t have anybody just right here that can just pick her up,” Kallie Goodsite stated.
Goodsite’s one of many 1000’s of SLPS mother and father scrambling to discover a manner to get their kids to and from school.
“I mean, what am I supposed to do?” Goodsite requested.
On Monday, the district introduced eight colleges received’t have bus service. Instead, these households may get a $75 gasoline card, a free Metro bus cross, or name a rideshare like Uber or Lyft.
“Some of these drivers don’t want that responsibility,” Drew Bergmark stated.
Bergmark’s been driving for Uber for greater than three years. So has TJ Shamon.
“It’s a lose lose for drivers,” Shamon defined.
Between the 2 native Uber drivers, they’ve greater than 26,000 rides. They stated selecting up somebody who’s alone and below 18 years previous is a no-go.
“It’s against Uber policy for an unaccompanied minor to be in my car. I’m not supposed to drive them,” Shamon stated.
News 4 requested SLPS about this after Superintendent Kelvin Adams supplied it as an possibility to mother and father earlier this week.
“We also did at least reach out to Uber and Lyft. For us, it was something we’re not able to do,” George Sells with SLPS stated.
Despite back-tracking on this selection, district leaders stay optimistic, saying they’ve practically 40 drivers ready to take their business driver’s license check.
“It’s been a situation where really the bottleneck is at the DMV. We’re doing everything we can to expedite this as much as we possibly can, and it’s just a matter of trying to work through it,” Sells defined.
However, some Uber drivers nonetheless worry that burden may fall on them, forcing them to cancel rides after they understand a rider is beneath the coverage age restrict.
For now, heading into SLPS’ first day Monday, they’ve greater than 30 routes uncovered.
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