Parents in Prince George, especially those who live in rural areas, continue to be frustrated with the frequent and ongoing cancellations of bus routes.
School District No 57. (SD57) has had an ongoing issue with cancelled bus routes since the first day of school in September, as its contractor First Student Inc. has blamed a nationwide school bus driver shortage.
However, parents say SD57 is now providing reimbursement forms to apply for compensation for transportation costs.
Richard Huakka lives in Beaverly and is a father of a 16-year-old College Heights Student who takes Route 27, which has now been fully cancelled for the second week in a row.
He said rural routes had been prioritized, so his son was able to catch the bus regularly until the end of November, when they began experiencing infrequent bus service.
Huakka said there’s been little to no notification and the bus will be cancelled minutes away from when it’s supposed to show up.
“I'm already at work in town, and I have to leave work and go drive back home to Beaverly to get my son. He's 16 and he's the last one to leave the house so he locks up and goes to the bus stop. It's really, really inconvenient. It’s costing me job hours. It's costing me lots of fuel.”
He said he hasn’t made arrangements for transportation outside of the school bus because it’s been reliable for the entire time he’s lived in Prince George, up until this year.
“We built our lives around having the school bus service for our kids so that we can go to work on time.”
He said he complained to SD57 about the situation on Dec. 5 and was sent an email with a reimbursement application for transportation costs.
“It's only a small consolation for the fact that now I have to lose basically two hours of my life out of a workday to go back or then come in late and leave early,” added Huakka.
He said his son would wait for 10 minutes past the bus arrival time and then go back inside if it didn’t show up, which has been concerning given the colder weather.
“We had a few weeks back where it was like -25 C in the morning. He's outside and even with a good jacket, if you're standing still and at -25 C in the wind, you get cold,” said Huakka, noting the situation would be more severe for elementary school age students.
“It's super anxiety-inducing for parents to know that even if they promised it ‘Oh, the buses are up and running now’ I really doubt it.”
Annie Scott is a parent whose high-school-age children take Route 29 from West Lake to College Heights.
“There has been no after-school bus for over four weeks now and I just received yet another weekly 'sorry for the inconvenience ' email stating it will not be running all of next week,” said Scott.
She said herself and a close friend have been working together to carpool six kids home after school.
“I work at the hospital, working 12-hour shifts and at times when my husband is out of town and can't pick [them] up, I have had to leave work, pick up and take-home kids, all the way to West Lake Road and return to work,” said Scott, explaining it is a one-hour round trip to do this from the time she leaves UHNBC.
“The gas weekly is also adding up! They sent out a 'travel assistance program form' to complete and people 'may be eligible ' depending on how far away you live.”
She said she applied on Nov. 22 but has not yet received a response to the form or to any phone calls or messages left.
SD57 switched contractors from Diversified Transportation, which had been the school bus contractor for the past 15-years, to the Ohio-based company First Student Inc. this year.
The company operates a fleet of 50,000 buses all over North America and is now responsible for serving about 3,500 students on 63 operating routes in Prince George, Mackenzie, McBride and Valemount.
First Student Inc. has stated it is working to identify route efficiencies to pick up as many students as possible and continue actively recruiting, hiring, and training new drivers.
However, SD57 has previously stated it is disappointed in the level of service the contractor has been giving to the community, but was not reachable for comment regarding the reimbursement forms, by the time of publication.
Updated route information is available on School District 57’s website.
