Hawaii high school students in grades 9-12 can apply for free city and county bus passes on four islands starting today.

The free passes on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii island are being offered to mitigate the effects of the school bus driver shortage plaguing the state and nation. The pilot program with the state Department of Education and the four major counties is called EXPRESS, which stands for Expanding Ridership to Educate Students in Schools.

The DOE ideally should have about 700 drivers but has only about 550, which means many bus routes have had to be consolidated, or temporarily suspended at times.

Students with an active DOE student ID number who want to apply for the free bus passes may sign up online at iportal.k12.hi.us/express. Approved applicants will receive confirmation and free bus passes directly from their schools.