Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is in critical need of bus drivers.

Now, the shortage is causing delayed routes. One driver told WRAL News that he starts his day now at 5 a.m. Sometimes he won’t get home until around 7 p.m.

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This is why school leaders are meeting to discuss how to put more money on the table and get more drivers behind the wheel.

Driver Eric Powell said he loves his job. He's been a bus driver for three different school districts -- in most recent years he's been driving for Chapel Hill-Carrboro.

“I love it. I love it. When I first got here I didn’t know I’d be here five years,” said Powell.

With fewer drivers on the routes this year, it’s been a rough ride lately.

“In my eight years of driving, last week was really the roughest week for me. The first week of school. Just helping out with routes making sure the kids get home,” said Powell.

Some kids are getting home hours behind schedule.

Superintendent Nyah Hamlett said this has become the district’s most significant challenge.

“We are actually down 30 drivers here in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, and we have about 72 total positions for our drivers, but being down 30 is a huge hit,” she said.

So, Hamlett proposing several solutions to recruit and retain staff.

”Part of it is that people who have a CDL could drive for Amazon. Or they could drive for other companies where they get paid a lot more than what school district are able to pay,” said Hamlett.

Their competitive effort started with a 10% pay increase approved in June.

Now, in a more aggressive recruitment strategy, Hamlett is proposing to double sign-on bonuses to $4,000, raise the referral bonus, the attendance bonus and guarantee full-time employment.

“We are hoping to get our drivers some opportunities to do some work during the day so that they can get that full-time salary at the bus driver pay rate,” she said.

“I hope that we can get some drivers in. It’s very critical because I don’t know if we can do this every day. Every week. It’s very very critical. It’s stressing on a lot of us,” added Powell.

This proposal is estimated to cost $525,000. The money will come from an emergency relief fund.

Hamlett's proposal will be discussed during Chapel Hill-Carrboro's school board meeting on Thursday.