Continued school bus delays a ‘serious concern’ months into school year

Jake Day's family has given up on the school bus.

The Hamilton Mountain parent told The Spectator mid-September his teenage son hadn't yet ridden the bus to school. More than a month later, nothing has changed.

There has been zero improvements," said Day. In fact it's getting worse because it's consistently delayed bringing him home now, too."

The family now has to budget for a monthly bus pass for their son, who's old enough to get himself to school.

Day is among the frustrated Hamilton parents who are late for work, missing appointments and skipping kids' extracurriculars, such as sports and music, because the bus doesn't arrive on time - or at all.

On Thursday morning, nearly 60 buses were reported late just before 9 a.m. At least three were over 75 minutes" late, according to the Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Services (HWSTS), which provides transportation to 29,442 public and Catholic students on 473 routes.

School boards, which share a bus consortium, say there are an average of 55 daily delays. This means thousands of students - 2,901 public and 2,737 Catholic - are late for class or late getting home every day.

Delays are a serious concern," Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) spokesperson Rob Faulkner said in an email.

He said, anecdotally, there are more delays now than this time last year, but they are comparable to trends in the last couple of years.

The disruption has been significant," said Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board (HWCDSB) chair Pat Daly. There's been a shortage and, no question, in some companies more so than we had anticipated or were aware of in late August."

The bus consortium - which has contracts with Attridge Transportation, First Student and Sharp Bus Lines - is still 24 drivers short, which is no change from mid-September. This means two dozen routes do not have an assigned permanent driver. The drivers they do have complete extra runs to cover routes with unfilled positions, which accounts for most of the delays, Faulkner said.

Driver absences, traffic and mechanical issues are also factors.

Faulkner said companies' recruitment efforts include hiring bonuses upwards of $2,500, attendance bonuses, flexible training and advertising across various platforms. But the part-time, split-shift nature of the job, which pays around $19.50 an hour, depending on the company, and is often filled by retirees and stay-at-home parents, can make hiring a challenge.

Mount Hope parent Tina Sousa has spent the better part of the school year juggling pick up and drop off for her two elementary-aged kids.

I was late for work every single day because I dropped my kids off at school," she said, adding that not everyone has the privilege of an understanding employer.

As of about a week ago, their route was assigned a permanent bus driver and the bus now arrives on time. But for two months, the working parent said her kids were upset," and often missed appointments and after-school activities essential to mental and physical health.

It affects more aspects than just getting to school on time," Sousa said.

The new, later bell time at Mount Hope Elementary School - changed from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. last year - meant to address delays has only created another problem for parents, she said.

They made it more difficult for parents by making the bell time later," she said. Most people need to be at work before 9:30 in the morning."

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com