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The consortium responsible for school buses in Ottawa’s two English-language school boards still needs 13 more drivers to cover routes this September.
The shortage affects about 57 transportation runs, or less than one per cent of the total number of runs, according to a message emailed to parents by the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority on Wednesday. The message urged parents continue to monitor the OSTA website for updates to the long-term cancellations list.
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Late last summer, the families of 7,500 students learned only days before school started that their children’s buses had been cancelled. At that time, OSTA was short by about 130 drivers and had not been able to come to a contractual agreement with one of its bus operators.
The situation left families scrambling to get children to school themselves or making other transportation arrangements. By early last October, OSTA still needed 71 drivers.
The shortage of drivers at this point is shrinking, according to recent figures from OSTA. On Aug. 14, it needed 28 drivers, affecting about 112 school bus runs.
About three-quarters of the affected runs listed Wednesday were in Ottawa’s west end.
“Information about long-term cancellations is subject to change,” said Wednesday’s notice to families from Cindy Owens, OSTA’s interim general manager.
“Cancelled services may be reinstated by the start of the school year. Information about cancellations is intended to give parents and guardians as much notice as possible so they can plan alternative arrangements in the worst-case scenario.”
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Another update is to be posted next week.
OSTA manages and co-ordinates bus transportation for students at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB).
Since last summer, some Grade 7-12 students have been transitioned to public transit. Parents and guardians may request single-ride vouchers to take public transit with their children.
According to Ontario’s Ministry of Education, cancellations in Ottawa last September represented more than 70 per cent of the total for the entire province.
An independent review of last year’s shortages by Deloitte LLP, commissioned by the Ministry of Education and released earlier this month, concluded that changing bell times would allow for additional bus runs and allow buses to drive longer distances and pick up more students.
However, if there are changes to bell times, they won’t take place in the coming school year as any changes exceeding 10 minutes require school board approval.
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