Thousands of students in Renfrew County will likely have to find alternative ways to get to school next week after a group representing the region’s school bus operators said there’s little possibility a deal will be reached between the companies and the consortium that co-ordinates school transportation in the region.
The warning comes two weeks after the Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC) sent a letter to families saying school bus companies had rejected its most recent contract extension offers.
In a statement posted online Tuesday, Renfrew County School Bus Operators spokesperson Alan Jackson said the RCJTC had “failed to meet a crucial deadline.”
“Without immediate action, buses will not be operation on all routes until October,” he warned, attributing the impasse to “the Consortium’s refusal to negotiate a long-term, catch-up contract, and to grant access to an essential computerized planning system, critical for organizing complex bus routing.”
Consortium representative Justin Jeffrey called the operators’ threat to withhold bus service at the start of the school year an “unprecedented tactic,” and said the RCJTC is aiming to get school buses back on the road as early as possible.
The consortium coordinates 200 bus routes for students across the Renfrew County District School Board and the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, providing service to some 10,000 students each school day.
Classes for students in both boards begin Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Families urged to make other plans
The bus operators have claimed the consortium is failing to pass along an extra $2.2 million allotted to Renfew County by Ontario’s Ministry of Education for the upcoming school year.
The ministry said the combined transportation budget for the 2024/25 school year for both the public and Catholic boards is $18.3 million.
Despite Renfrew County’s large geographic size, Jackson said bus operators are paid at least 20 per cent less than their counterparts in other regions.
Jeffrey noted the consortium is negotiating with for-profit bus companies, not with the drivers themselves, and said the RCJTC as “a lot of respect for bus drivers and the important work they do in our community.”
He said the ministry offered the consortium a 12 per cent funding increase this year, more than it typically receives.
“This is an increase we’ve never seen before,” he said. “In the past, we’ve been happy when the number has reached four or five per cent. Typically it’s a zero per cent, two per cent.”
For now, Jeffrey said the consortium is urging families to make other arrangements to get their kids to and from school next week.