Chicago Public Schools reveals plan for hub bus stop system amid driver shortage

For Chicago Public School students who take public transportation to get to school, there may be a new option for transportation this school year with hub bus stops.

CPS Chief Operating Officer Charles Mayfield presented a plan at Thursday's CPS board meeting that would bring back more school bus options for general education students.

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"With the hub stop, with our general education population, I can pick up maybe 30-40, or 50, kids all at one place," Mayfield said. "The hub stops will be at a location that are maybe between 2 and 5 miles from the students' home of record, and at this particular school we will pick up a number of students and then drop them off at their designated school site."

The new plan would be an option for students who currently rely on CTA buses or trains to make it to school.

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"For us, it wouldn't work," Piggyback Network Founder Ismael El-Amin said. "Our children go to school 18 miles away, so if we had to get them to that local school we don't think anybody else would be there."

El-Amin is a CPS parent and started a parent transportation group that became a nationwide corporation, called Piggyback Network. He said the hub system may work for some families, but transportation is still a struggle for other CPS parents.

"It's a start. I'm sure parents will be glad to hear at least something is rolled out," El-Amin said. "It's definitely time to innovate, time to change, time to think about, is the system working for us?"

The hub system won't be ready for the start of the school year, but is expected to start sometime in the first quarter.

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Mayfield said CPS needs more bus drivers to provide the service, so they have increased pay in recent years and offer retention bonuses to drivers who stay.