Families are being asked to expect bus route cancellations and make contingency plans to get children to school as the pandemic adds to the shortage of bus drivers.
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Student Transportation Services of Brant Haldimand Norfolk, which operates school buses for the Grand Erie and Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic district school boards, the French Catholic school board and W. Ross Macdonald School, issued a notice to families last week alerting them to potential bus route disruption.
Philip Kuckyt, manager of transportation services, said five bus routes had to be canceled on Friday due to COVID-19 isolation requirements, which can have drivers at home for five to 10 days.
“COVID is putting pressure on an already depleted driver pool,” said Kuckyt.
“While many cancellations will be short-term, families should also be prepared for extended cancellations, depending on the situation,” he said. “Every effort will be made to communicate cancellations as quickly as possible but, in many cases, we will have minimal notice.”
The highly-contagious Omicron variant means more drivers are becoming infected, said Kuckyt, adding that some are having to self-isolate when members of their household have symptoms.
He said a usual pool of about 40 drivers has been reduced to about 20.
The bus driver shortage is a long-standing issue across the province and beyond. Kuckyt said the nature of the job – short split shifts and limited income – make it challenging to recruit drivers.
The local school bus system has just under 400 routes and drivers cover about 36,000 kilometers a day getting children to and from classes. The school boards cover a largely rural population in three large counties. Forty per cent of the student population (15,400 people) ride the bus to schools in Brantford and Haldimand, Norfolk and Brant counties.
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“We want to get families thinking about a backup plan,” Kuckyt said of the potential route cancellations.
Those plans could include car pooling or pivoting to online learning if transportation to school isn’t available, he said.
Kuckyt, whose own family relies on the bus system, said he knows how inconvenient cancellations are.
“I feel terrible for parents.”
Elena Harrington, who has been driving a school bus for about seven years, most recently with the Grand Erie board transporting high school students from Caledonia to Brantford, said she’s considering taking a temporary leave from the job because she doesn’t feel safe.
“I know lots of drivers who have quit because of the pandemic,” said Harrington.
Kuckyt said school boards take measures to make students and drivers safe on buses, including requiring passengers to wear face coverings, providing drivers with medical-grade and N95 masks and face shields, twice daily disinfection of high-touch areas, adhering to a seating plan , and opening bus window when weather permits.
But Harrington said the majority of her passengers – she drives just over 40 students the 90-minute route from Caledonia to Brantford – either don’t wear masks or wear them improperly.
“I tell them to put on their masks when they get on the bus but they take them off when they get to their seats,” she said, adding that students often close the bus windows.
“It’s absolutely not safe,” said Harrington, who submitted a report to the school principal on Friday morning. “If there’s nothing done by next week I’m thinking of quitting until the end of March.”
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Kuckyt said wearing a mask is an “expectation, not a suggestion” to riding the bus and any non-compliance is to be reported by the bus driver to the school’s principal.
“Similar to other issues being experienced on the bus, the school principals will investigate and take progressive discipline that is required to correct the negative behavior,” he said.
“Safety of students and staff is the priority of the local school boards, which is why drivers are provided with the same level of PPE as school staff and why the safety procedures are in place on the bus. By the driver wearing their mask and using the goggles or face shield while students are boarding and de-boarding the bus, the risk of contracting COVID-19 is very low.”
To stay informed of bus route cancellations, families can sign up to receive transportation delays and cancellation alerts though the BusPlanner Delays app on Apple and Google, or visit the Student Transportation Services Brant Haldimand Norfolk Alerts page at stsbhn.ca/ .