Hamilton short 25 school bus drivers as kids head back to class Tuesday

As students return to class, Hamilton is short 25 school bus drivers.

In a statement Friday, the Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Service (HWSTS) said it expects bus delays this fall to be better than some past years but still faces a sector-wide driver shortage."

For years, the local bus consortium has struggled to get kids to class on time amid nationwide driver shortages - attributed to changing demographics and compensation, among other factors - which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Last year, one of the bus companies had four open routes with no assigned drivers on the first day of classes. This, along with mechanical issues and drivers becoming acquainted with new routes, caused delays for more than 1,800 students at 44 schools.

In 2020, the first September of the pandemic, the transportation service was short 59 drivers.

Some of this year's open routes may be covered by occasional or spare drivers, but students should prepare for delays as drivers get used to their new routes," the HWSTS said.

Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board (HWCDSB) chair Pat Daly said he encourages parents to check the HWSTS website at HamiltonSchoolBus.ca to check the status of their child's bus.

The bus companies and staff are doing everything they can," he said.

School boards currently provide transportation to 29,442 public and Catholic students on 473 routes across the city.

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) spokesperson Rob Faulkner said in an email that bus companies are always actively recruiting drivers."

Attridge Transportation and First Student operate 161 routes each, while Sharp Bus Lines operated 152 routes, he said.

Transportation planners and operators are working hard to minimize delays and impacts on students," the HWSTS said.

The area manager of First Student, Peter McGlynn, said Wednesday the company is anticipating having a bum in every seat."

We're still working on trying to recruit and train drivers, as well as retain the caring people that we have currently," McGlynn said. We have been nonstop ... from last summer to now."

The company is offering incentives, such as signing bonuses, to attract local bus drivers and is working to recruit drivers from other areas to assist should there be shortfalls."

Drivers make $19.50 - up from $19 last year - and receive a signing bonus of between $2,500 and $3,500, depending on the type of licence they hold.

McGlynn said recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges.

People change their mind if they're going to come back or they're going to retire," he said.

To mitigate bus delays and cancellations, school boards staggered bell times at 70 Hamilton schools last year, eliminating 29 buses.

Faulkner said the reorganization was very effective in reducing delays."

This significantly reduced the number of open routes for HWSTS," he said. Had the bell-time changes not occurred, there would have been significant delays to dozens of more routes."

Daly agrees, but said it hasn't entirely solved the problem, which has persisted for years across the province.

For sure it helped. Is it enough? No," he said.

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