For bus drivers, safety has always been a top priority. Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, that hasn’t changed — but the ways they go about it have.

Armed with assorted cleaning supplies and backpack-style sprayers filled with hospital-quality disinfectant, crews gather every Friday and Saturday to thoroughly disinfects every surface of every bus used that week.

“We make sure everything is safe,” said Tyrick McCoy, a response team operator for Transportation Services and member of the bus sanitization team.

Transportation Services is finalizing bus routes for eligible riders who have indicated to the district they plan to return for in-person learning and preparing to notify parents of assigned routes next week.

School bus service will be limited when in-person instruction resumes on Oct. 19 due to physical distancing and its impact on bus capacity. Under the HISD Communicable Disease Plan, buses will run at half capacity with just 26 students.

To accommodate the reduced capacity, bus service will be limited to special education, homeless, elementary, and specialty school students. Service also may be provided for some students in middle school as well as those who live along high-risk routes if resources are available.

Though most HISD students are starting school virtually, Transportation Services was back on the road on Sept. 8, providing student shuttle service to and from 36 digital learning centers across the district.

Strategically located across the district, digital learning centers provide students without technology access a place to complete their daily virtual lessons during the district’s online-only first six weeks of school.

Students who have been previously identified as needing technology will be assigned to a select center, based on the location of their home school. Once assigned, the home school will provide parents with their student’s bus stop and pick-up and drop-off times.