A robust recruitment campaign by the bus agency that provides transportation for close to 29,000 Hamilton, Ont., students has one public school board official ‘cautiously optimistic’ there will be enough drivers to handle the bulk of routes in September.
Hamilton Wentworth District School board (HWDSB) chair Dawn Danko says early signs suggest most of the 478 routes that need service will have proper coverage following a rash of daily delays in recent years.
“The good news is that some of our operators are reporting full staffing levels, including spare drivers for school start-up, and oftentimes we haven’t even been close to hitting that mark,” Danko said.
However, she says the board remains guarded due to a history of retirements and resignations near the end of the summer or beginning of the fall.
Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Services provides rides to and from some 170 individual schools throughout the district, including Catholic entities.
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The school-purpose fleet is about 460 vehicles.
Over the last two years, several districts across Ontario have reported route delays of up to 40 minutes including the HWDSB, which was short some 25 drivers early last September with few spares available to cover.
A number of routes were changed to mitigate the shortages in addition to alterations in bell times as recommended by a 2019 study.
“It’s a tough job, we know that they have split shifts, they’re paid somewhere around the mark of $19.50 an hour” Danko noted.
“With a split shift, it means you really can’t pick up other work throughout the day.”
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