Timmins, Ont. and surrounding region cancels school bus routes due to driver shortage

School bus operators in Timmins, Ont. and the surrounding area had to cancel six routes on Wednesday due to a shortage of drivers.

"Our operators are still struggling to retain and to recruit drivers," said Ryan Hartling, the transportation supervisor with North East Tri-Board Student Transportation, which manages school buses in the districts of Cochrane and Temiskaming, including the city of Timmins.

"They were successful in recruiting a number of drivers over the summer. However, we are still facing a driver shortage."

Hartling said the shortage comes despite operators offering signing and retention bonuses to drivers.

"If there is a solution to how we can resolve this, I'd like to know, because it's been going on for a few years now, ever since the pandemic hit," Hartling said.

"We lost a good portion of our driver pool at that time and the operators have not been able to recover."

He said one operator has three full-time vacancies, while another has two and a third operator has one vacancy.

The driver shortage means backfill, if a driver takes time off or a sick day, is limited.

When routes are cancelled Hartling said they send an email to affected parents, and it's up to them to get their children to school.

"I know it's a service that a lot of families depend on and we try our best to to keep it running and keep it available," Hartling said.

In Greater Sudbury and the surrounding area, the situation is less dire.

Renée Boucher, executive director of the Sudbury Student Services Consortium, said they currently have enough school bus drivers to cover all of their routes.

But Boucher said that situation could change as the school year advances.

"Some of these [drivers] decide that it's not a job for them, they don't particularly like it, or maybe it's just a little too stressful at the beginning of the school year," she said.