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
Prince William says wife Kate is 'doing well'
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
BREAKING Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy
Canadian Blood Services issued an apology on Friday to the LGBTQ2S+ community for what it now admits was a harmful and discriminatory blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma.
BREAKING 'Just wait': Toronto mayor hints that WNBA team is coming to the city amid multiple reports
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says that she is hopeful an announcement could be made soon amid multiple reports that a WNBA team is coming to Toronto in 2026.
Magnitude 4.2 earthquake reported off Vancouver Island's west coast
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Ontario coroner to investigate death of man who suffered cardiac arrest while waiting in ER
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
'Irate male' assaulted Newfoundland officers with block of cheese, police say
Police in Newfoundland say patrol officers were assaulted Thursday by a "very irate male" wielding a block of cheese.
Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.