By Kellah Lavoie

Driver shortage stop school buses

Feb 15, 2011 | 5:13 AM

It’s not just winter weather keeping school buses off the roads this year.

Both local school divisions have had a handful of days when the buses did not run because there was no one to drive them.

Tim Wilkinson, transportation supervisor for the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, said it’s a problem across the province. They cannot retain substitute school bus drivers.

“There’s a lot of work around now, so there’s a lot of jobs available, so that shortens up your substitute drivers list,” he said.

“People don’t want to wait for a job so they just go and get another job.”

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He said there was no one to drive a bus only about five times this year.

Tim Jelinski, director of education for the Prince Albert Roman Catholic Separate School Division, said there were only two days that he knows of when their buses didn’t run for the same reason.

The school division contracts out their bus service to Hertz Northern Bus Lines. Jelinski said this year is the first time he has been informed that buses did not run due to a lack of drivers.

“We have a responsibility if the child is registered in our school division, and we provide transportation. It is our responsibility to fulfill that,” he said.

While it has only happened a couple of times, he said the contracted company has since made arrangement to get drivers from Saskatoon when there are no substitutes available in Prince Albert.

For both school divisions the protocol is the same when the bus does not run. The parents are contacted and asked to drive their children to school.

Jelinski said it is not something they want to have happen on a regular basis.

Wilkinson agrees. He said in most cases when drivers are slightly ill they will still drive their routes.

“The drivers drive their hour or two in the morning and afternoon if they aren’t feeling perfect, but you know there is a point with the flu when you can’t go to work,” he said.

While it is not a common occurrence in the Prince Albert area, Wilkinson said it is in other places in Saskatchewan.

“Some places, they have had to cancel their buses for long term, two or three months,” he said explaining he is a member of the Student Transportation Committee for the province. He added in some places the issues go beyond a lack substitute bus drivers, and there is a shortage of drivers all together.

“(The problem), it’s getting more serious all the time,” Wilkinson said.

He said their best bet is getting more retired people to come on as substitute drivers, explaining they want a little bit of extra money but not a full-time job. He said it is a perfect fit.

klavoie@panow.com