BOSTON — School buses are in service again after about a dozen Boston Public Schools (BPS) bus routes were left unstaffed Monday morning, leaving 400 students stranded, WBUR reports.

The school department had to scramble Monday to ensure that additional routes scheduled to run Tuesday morning were covered. BPS officials said in a statement that Veolia, the city’s school bus contractor, dispatched supervisors to drive buses Tuesday morning, “due to a continued shortage of union drivers willing to work,” and that it is running all routes, with some delays. Classes are in session Tuesday for 32 charter schools and special education programs here, according to WBUR. Meanwhile, the city made its transit system, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, free for students on Tuesday.

The contractor told the news outlet it was working with the union to ensure all routes are consistently staffed. The issue is related to an extension of a labor dispute that led to a strike last October in which 300 BPS school bus drivers walked off the job in opposition to changes made at the transportation department.   

BPS spokesman Lee McGuire told WBUR that he hopes the issues will be resolved before all Boston students start school next week. The statement released by BPS said that the number of buses required on the road increases every day this week.

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