Don't Leave Ontario Families Stranded

"I have worked in the school bus industry for over twenty-five years. I have been a driver, dispatcher, and now I am in a supervisory role.  School bus drivers are a unique breed. They’re highly trained and skilled, they are compassionate toward their students, and they undergo strict vetting before they are put behind the wheel.

The current funding shortfall is putting tremendous pressure on every single driver in the school bus industry. Drivers are being required to cover extra routes, which means that through no fault of their own, they are arriving late or not at all. That means that parents are being forced to stay home from work, kids are late for class, and the economy is suffering.

In twenty-five years I have never seen the student transportation system under this much strain. It’s causing drivers to leave the system, it’s leading to parental frustration, and it is hurting our children’s education. 

The provincial government needs to provide emergency funding so that kids aren’t left stranded."

"I have three children in the Ontario school system. 2 weeks before this school year started I was told that my 12 year-old (grade 7) daughter would not be provided with school bus transportation due to the driver shortage and lack of funding.

In fact, no students at her school (grade 7-12) are provided school bus transportation. Grade 7 and 8 students lost this service this year. All students are provided a city bus pass instead. My 12 year-old daughter is expected to navigate public transit in a city of 1 million people in order to arrive at school. Her travel to school is stressful and there are missed connecting buses. We are currently driving her to school and carpooling with neighbourhood children. My wife, myself, and our neighbours have become the bus drivers.We rearrange our work schedules in order to assure our daughters safe, timely, and stress free arrival at school.

My uncle drove a school bus, and he loved it. The yellow school bus is both a symbol of childhood, and a safe and reliable way to transport kids to school. Most 12 year olds across Ontario are provided with a school bus. But in my city, and at my daughter’s school she is expected to navigate public transit as an adult. This is unacceptable to me.

My youngest son is 10. In 2 years when he enters junior high what will be the state of student transportation? Should I start preparing him now for early adulthood and navigating city transit? I hope not.

Inaction is the same as defunding school buses. The provincial government needs to provide more funding so that kids can be kids."

"I have worked as a bus driver and in the student transportation industry throughout my career. I currently work as an operations manager for a school bus company. Bus drivers are the unsung heroes of the education system. Without them, schools literally grind to a halt. Bus drivers are also beloved components of our community. I was reminded of this several years ago when working as a trainer. I was approached by a young mother, who asked me if I was the same Bobbi Jo who worked years ago as a driver in a different community. When I responded that I was indeed, she began to cry.  She then told me that I was the only reason she ever went to school, as she was badly bullied. But she went because she knew I would be there to cheer her up. In her words, “You were always so kind to me and had me sit near the front so we could talk. I remember you telling me that I shouldn’t listen to those girls. You truly helped me through one of the darkest times in my life”

Bus drivers are unsung heroes. They leave their mark on their community and the ripple effects are not often seen.

But the past several years feel like they have been one step forward and ten steps back. Due to the driver shortage, we are often asking our office staff to drive buses in order to prevent route cancellations. It’s not a sustainable or safe model. When I began as a trainer in 2019 we had so many applicants we had to bring in additional training staff, but now we go months without applicants. We have brought in additional incentives such as referral bonuses in an attempt to boost recruitment but they have not had the impact we need to address the shortage. The average age of our drivers is between 50 and 60, with our oldest driver being 83 years old. We need the additional funding, so we can recruit more drivers. If we do not receive the funding “our” kids will be left stranded."