A bus driver shortage at the company that supplies service for Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) students in Nova Scotia is causing a lot of problems for parents and students.
Bus delays and cancellations have become a regular occurrence.
Thursday, for example, 17 buses were cancelled for the day due to shortages. Another bus was running 20 minutes behind schedule because the driver was picking up two routes worth of kids.
“It really hampers our ability to get to our work on time, as well as get the children to school on time,” said Curtis Crouse, a parent of two children, aged seven and nine.
Crouse says last-minute cancellations of his kids’ buses this year have forced him to find alternative ways to get them to school. Once this week, they were given notice the night before. On Thursday, they were told about 30 minutes before the bus was supposed to arrive.
“It’s just impossible to get the kids there at 8 o’clock and be at work,” he said.
“It could mean a lot of other parents having to homeschool that day, or not send their kids at all, or choose their kids going to school versus them going to work.”
In a letter sent to parents, bus provider Transco offered its apologies and thanked families for their patience while it addressed the driver shortage.
“The decision to cancel routes still remains a last recourse; however, we are faced with an exceptional number of unplanned absences,” the letter read in part.
It went on to mention that Transco has four driver candidates awaiting training and is continually looking for more.
Meanwhile, First Student, which operates Transco, says the “core of the issue” is a nationwide school bus driver shortage.
“Depending on daily staffing levels, we are having to adjust or cancel bus routes. We certainly understand the frustration and inconvenience this causes families,” First Student communications manager Jen Biddinger wrote in an email.
“We continue to actively recruit, hire and train new drivers in Halifax. We do have candidates in various stages of training and hope to add them to bus routes in the coming weeks.”
Biddinger says in the meantime, all available resources are being used to cover bus routes and they “remain committed to doing everything we can to get students to and from school.”
For parents like Crouse, it’s all very frustrating.
“I understand staff shortages and whatnot, but it’s not just one bus that’s being cancelled, it’s multiple buses on a daily basis that this is happening now,” he said.
“(I) totally see it affecting the kids. If they can’t get to school in a timely fashion or at all, it makes it kind of hard to learn the lessons from each day.”
A CSAP spokesperson told Global News they are working closely with Transco but directed all questions to the company.
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