INDIANAPOLIS — Hours before students stepped inside IPS schools for their first day, their bus drivers were out getting everything ready.
"We've ran dry runs, we've practiced these routes for several weeks now so we are ready to go," Matthew Keen with First Student said.
First Student is the bus company IPS works with throughout the year.
They say they've spent the summer doing state inspections and hiring new drivers.
While they have struggled to retain drivers the last few years, this is the first time they are overstaffed.
"Overall, it is going to help with efficiency and effectiveness in the district and for us as a transportation department," Keen said.
This year buses will work in four separate zones. Instead of driving through the entire district, drivers will only take students to and from the school inside the zone.
In total over 20,000 students will take the bus to school this year.
The company says even with so many students, the drivers will build personal relationships with all of them.
"As a driver you don't know every kid day one, as that student gets on the bus we are going to start learning them and build a relationship with them," Keen said.
If parents have questions about their student's route, contact the IPS Service Center at (317) 226-4000.
School Bus Safety
Drivers are required by law to stop when a school bus stops to pick up or drop off children with its flashing red lights and stop arm activated. This goes for drivers in both directions of a road when a bus stops, unless the bus is stopped on a highway with a barrier or unpaved median. In that case, only the traffic traveling in the same direction as the bus is required to stop.
"Most of the time, you will always stop. The only exception is a divided roadway with an un-drivable median," the Greenfield Police Department wrote in a recent Facebook post. "Let's all do our part to keep our children safe this school year."