Chronic shortage of school bus drivers wreaking havoc with routes in Sudbury
Thirteen more school bus routes were cancelled in the Sudbury area Monday morning, with more expected by Tuesday.
It’s another headache for parents, students and officials in Sudbury.
“It’s actually worse than I was expecting,” said Renee Boucher, with the Sudbury Student Services Consortium.
Boucher said obstacles, cancelations and juggling was expected before classes returned in September, but the last two months proved to be even more challenging than she imagined.
“We had enough drivers to cover every route in September and the replacement drivers, that’s what was lacking. We didn’t have many replacement drivers. At this point, we don’t even have enough drivers to cover all routes,” she said.
“The consortium has removed three routes altogether, tried to remove stops from one run and amalgamated it on other runs, so we were able to do that but even with three (fewer) routes, we’re still not covering every one of our routes.”
The Sudbury Student Services Consortium is responsible for bus services for the four school boards in Sudbury. On Monday, four routes were cancelled due to COVID-19 exposure and another nine were cancelled due to driver shortages.
“Just this morning … one particular company called and said we need to cancel another seven school buses,” said Boucher. “We’re losing drivers each and every day as we’re going ahead, unfortunately.”
Automated phone calls are expected to go out Monday afternoon alerting parents of even more cancelations this week. Officials said that although COVID-19 is a factor, it definitely isn’t the biggest problem the consortium is facing.
“The most common reason is because of full-time employment elsewhere,” said Boucher. “So right now everyone in Sudbury, everyone is looking for employees. So if you just look around, everyone is asking for full-time employees so our drivers are seeing that as well and deciding that full-time employment is better for them.”
Boucher said they had six people in training last week, but this week are down to three.
"So some of them decided to do something else. Some of them decided to go for full-time employment.”
Boucher said in a perfect world, 25 new drivers are needed to get through this school year in Sudbury alone. But she said there are a lot of incentives for people who might be interested in getting behind the wheel.
“I know that the Ministry of Education also, it’s been a couple of years now, they are providing a driver retention program,” she said. “So every semester, if a driver stays for a full semester, the driver can receive $1,000 at the end of that semester so there’s a potential of $2,000 over and above what a driver would regularly do.”
Leuschen Transportation employees can also receive a pay bonus if they refer a new driver who stays with the company for at least four months.
Boucher said that steps are also being taken to improve technology and make the job easier for drivers.
“This year the consortium, we’ve provided tablets for all of our school buses," she said. "So our drivers have a tablet on a round mount and they can see the stops, they can see the students and that’s to help them out so that they don’t have the route sheets on paper in front of them."
Boucher said the consortium is also looking into a student counter to track how many students are taking the bus on a regular basis. She said this will help the consortium adjust routes in the future so that kids who take it regularly can be put on a non-cancelled route.
Impacted routes are regularly listed on the Sudbury Student Services Consortium Facebook page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian gov't proposes new foreign influence registry as part of wide-spanning new bill
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Boeing Starliner capsule's first crewed test flight postponed
The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing's new Starliner space capsule was called off for at least 24 hours over a technical issue that launch teams were unable to resolve in time for the planned Monday night lift-off.
Teacher charged in historical sexual assault of Calgary teenage girl
Calgary police have charged a teacher with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl more than 20 years ago.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Man banned from owning animals after fatal Calgary dog attack
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
East-end Ottawa family dealing with massive rat infestation
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Newfoundland and Labrador latest province to tighten rules on Airbnbs
Newfoundland and Labrador is the latest jurisdiction to bring in stricter rules for short-term rentals, with a coming set of regulations that will force operators to register with the provincial government.