Dozens of school bus delays as Hamilton students return to class

Some Hamilton students are running late for class on the first day of school as dozens of buses are delayed.

At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Service (HWSTS) was reporting 71 ongoing delays, affecting at least two dozen schools across the city. More than half the delays are between 10 and 20 minutes, but several are as long as an hour.

Local school boards warned families on Friday to expect delays as the bus consortium dealt with a shortage of about 25 drivers.

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

Last year, there were 56 delays total affecting 1,885 students on the first day of school.

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