Local company helping train 4R bus drivers, city staff
An Aurora-based business which offers hands-on training for truck drivers has expanded its focus from international candidates to would-be drivers here in Nebraska, starting its broader mission by training local bus drivers to fill a pressing need within the Aurora 4R School District.
Todd Vettel, who founded International Workforce Services in February 2022 along with his parents and two brothers, said he is pleased with the opportunity to address a need here in his hometown, noting that IWS has begun working with the school district as well as city of Aurora.
“We’ve been looking to expand our horizons for some time now,” Vettel began. “Our expansion strategy is to focus on the domestic market with native borns, offering driving training for the passenger endorsement, which is the bus drivers, and also for straight trucks, which the city is using. We pretty well cover all the different types of trucking, both with the immigrant specialization and now the domestic market.”
Having access to local training services for bus drivers is not only helpful, but vital to the Aurora school district, according to bus supervisor Gerad Olsen.
“We ended up cancelling two of the city’s routes last year due to a shortage of drivers,” Olsen noted. “We cancelled one route and combined another route due to that shortage as well.”
As of Monday, Olsen reported that five drivers are now being trained by IWS, including four new candidates and one driver who is working to upgrade his classification.
“This will give us some breathing room with a majority of those being trained right now wanting to be substitute drivers,” he said. “One of them wants to be a full-time driver, so that will obviously help out a lot. The new sub drivers, along with the current sub drivers, with me being one of those sub drivers, are going to be busy.”
Asked about the convenience and availability of having bus driver training right here in Aurora, Olsen said IWS is proving itself as a huge asset to the district.
“This could also be a huge asset to districts that are close by in helping train drivers because it’s such a time-consuming effort to get drivers through all the training, the classes, the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) licensing and whatnot,” he said. “A year ago or so the federal government added a bunch of regulations as far as stuff that a person would have to do to get a CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) and it just consumes a lot of time for a person to do this now.”
Filling a growing need
Having recognized a growing need in the US job market with some 100,000 job openings now in the trucking industry, Vettel explained in earlier interviews that IWS began working with a company that helps locate candidates from around the world (many of whom have years of experience behind the wheel) interested in getting their American CDL. IWS has already helped more than 100 drivers from 18 countries earn their CDLs, utilizing a training office on the south side of the square as well as logging time on the road with candidates as part of the required training regimen.
“We’re very well equipped to do this,” Vettel said of the expansion into working with candidates needing a CDL to drive a school bus. “Eventually we’ll have our own bus, but right now we’re using one of Aurora’s buses and that’s probably a three or four-day program, depending on the skills of the driver. If they are starting from scratch they’ll require more time and training, and if they’ve done this before we anticipate they’ll move through quicker.
“This has been in the works for over a month and then we started three weeks ago with driver training in our classroom,” he added. “This last Monday (July 31) we started the behind-the-wheel training, so we’re actively working to get these guys through the system as quickly and safely as we can.”
Vettel said it worked well to launch the focused bus driver training program here at home to help the company work through the details, though the plan is to offer the same services to other school districts in Nebraska.
“As far as where IWS goes, we’ve got a marketing strategy to offer these services from North Platte to Lincoln,” he said. “We’ve got some private schools that have asked us to bid on bus driver training programs for them, so I think there’s a lot of demand from a lot of these communities across the state.”
IWS trainers ride along with candidates to help complete detailed behind-the-wheel testing requirements. Classroom training is required as well, though Vettel said that can be completed in person, or by logging in to hear lessons and watch videos remotely.
“We’ll give them options,” Vettel explained of services available to clients. “If the customer is okay having their driver conduct the entry-level training at home or in a remote office, then they could do it where they’re at. We prefer that they come into our classroom and do the entry-level training in our office, but we have done remote training. However, the behind the wheel (training) has got to be in the vehicle.”
Vettel said IWS recently hired another part-time instructor in Lincoln to help serve clients in the eastern part of the state, and when a bus is eventually purchased the plan is to take that portion of the driver training program on the road.
“I would say that if we have a number of drivers in North Platte, for example, we’re going to take a bus out to North Platte rather than make them come all the way out here,” he explained.
In addition to helping bus drivers earn CDLs with a passenger endorsement, which is required to drive buses large enough to carry 16 or more passengers, IWS also provides training for straight trucks, such as snow plows and city maintenance vehicles. The City of Aurora reached out to IWS to inquire about getting training for expanded Class B CDL requirements, which lead to some initial training sessions in recent weeks.
“I don’t know how many drivers they are going to have come through, but we’ve worked with two of their younger guys,” Vettel said. “They have some new employees who they want to get some experience and we’re working with them, getting them through the program. There’s nothing really unique beyond that, but that’s been a lot of fun.”
That type of CDL training can and will be taken on the road as well, Vettel concluded, noting a plan to help communities across the state address driver training requirements.
“One of our biggest features is that we’re on your schedule,” he said. “We don’t make you wait until Aug. 28 for the next class. We’re very flexible. We like to tout that we’re on-demand CDL training. We’re very flexible and we’ll custom tailor programs based off of what makes sense for us and for the customer.”