After years of widespread bus driver shortages — and the delays and routing headaches that caused for schools and families — most districts in the Twin Cities say this year has been less of a scramble.

"I think it's been the strongest start in recent memory, certainly since before COVID," said Celi Haga, spokeswoman for Eastern Carver County Schools. Usually, Haga fields a few phone calls on the first day of school about missing buses or excessive delays. "This year, it was crickets."

District leaders across the suburbs credit ongoing recruiting efforts for helping to fill driver rosters. And, for many schools, new technology enables easier route updates, fewer delays and streamlined communication with parents about bus arrival times. However, implementing such technology can come with some hiccups.

Stillwater schools alerted parents after school started for some students on Aug. 26 to "significant disruptions, including inaccurate bus routes, missing addresses, and students being left off routes entirely" because of "data inaccuracies and compatibility issues" with the district's transition to a new bus routing and GPS system.

"We understand the frustration and inconvenience these challenges have caused for your families, and we are fully committed to resolving them," read the message to parents. The district's spokeswoman, Carissa Keister, said the situation has improved in the second week of school.

Many parents in Hopkins Public Schools are also frustrated by changes the district made to its busing system this year. The district moved to an "opt-in" model where families had to request transportation if they needed it. That shift, said district spokeswoman Jolene Goldade, allowed all the secondary buildings to have the same bell schedule — something she said was a strong preference for families.

The district has always had a policy to provide transportation to open-enrolled students upon request if space is available on a bus. The opt-in change, along with a flood of more than 680 requests from open-enrolled families, meant that some students living outside the district didn't receive their requested bus assignment until a few days before school started. Others, even some who requested a stop before the Aug. 1 deadline, were still waiting on Friday to hear if they'll have a spot on a bus at all.

Parent Jamie Nelson is still waiting for a bus assignment for her two children, as are some other open-enrolled families in her Golden Valley neighborhood. Together, the neighbors are carpooling and "dividing and conquering" the challenge of getting 10 kids to their Hopkins schools, Nelson said.

"My family is making it work but I know of other families who are really struggling and reaching out to strangers on Facebook to help get their kid to school," Nelson said. "I keep hearing from families who say this has never been an issue before."

The district is continuing to process the requests, and those who registered earlier will be processed first, according to a district letter that went to families. "Our goal is to ensure that every family who requests bus service receives it," Goldade said, adding that Hopkins isn't facing a bus driver shortage or routing changes that would cause major disruptions.

Having enough drivers at the start of the year is a welcome change, said Troy Schreifels, the director of transportation, security and emergency management for Osseo schools. He estimates that more than half of the 25 years in his career were marked by driver shortages, which became acute in the wake of the pandemic.

"But this year, we had a full bank of drivers for the first day of school, and it's been going really well," Schreifels said.

Without the staffing issues of the past, several districts said their transportation departments' main challenge this year is adjusting routes around road closures, slowdowns and orange cones.

"There's just a lot of construction," said David Hanson, transportation coordinator for St. Louis Park schools. "That seems to be the biggest hurdle our buses are facing this year."