The wheels on the bus can’t go round and round without a driver to start it up.
School District 91 (SD91) is certainly not the only jurisdiction facing bus driver shortages, but that doesn’t ease the burden on any parents who are having to contort their family resources to get their kids to school on their own, or accommodate the time adjustments being made throughout the bus system to try offsetting the shortages.
The most pronounced example in the area is Grassy Plains School providing Kindergarten through Grade 12 classroom services on the south side of Francois Lake. About 80 student attend, from a wide geographic area of farms and forests across the territories of three First Nations (Cheslatta, Nee Tahi Buhn and Skin Tyee). For kids at the farthest ends of the bus routes, it is a substantial journey at the best of times. When shortages occur, it gets worse.
That’s why Grassy Plains School took the unusual step, as of Monday (Feb. 6), to change the school’s hours of operation to allow for the recent loss of another driver, this one due to retirement.
For comparison, School District 57 headquartered in Prince George has been facing blow-back from parents in similar situations, at times blaming the new SD57 bus contractor, but the reality was, routes were being cancelled last year as well with the previous contractor for the same reason: lack of drivers. The problem in SD57 was solved when the district contracted the previous bus company back again to fill the gaps - six routes - but even then, there was still one week during which an illness to a driver caused one route to be cancelled. Even between two companies, they couldn’t find a replacement.
SD91 doesn’t have a third-party supplier for its bussing. It operates its own fleet with the labour partnership of CUPE local 4177.
“SD91 is not immune to the staffing shortages affecting most school districts and other sectors,” said Mike Skinner, SD91’s assistant superintendent, explaining the situation on the Southside. “Bus drivers are in high demand and in the fall of 2022, northern school districts were short close to 100 school bus drivers (full-time and casual). We recently had a driver retire and no replacement is available at this time. This full-time vacancy has affected routes south of Burns Lake that support Grassy school. Until a new driver is hired, we have adjusted the other routes to ensure students can be transported to school. The school slightly modified the start and end times to allow the bus pick-up times to be altered.”
This isn’t the only route affected by driver shortages, but it was in a location where other alternatives couldn’t be arranged without necessitating the changes to the school schedule.
The reasons for the driver shortage are varied. Part of it, as in this latest case, is rooted in the growing wave of baby-boomer retirements taking a slice out of the labour market in all professions. Another factor is the high demand for blue-collar professionals of all description for the major industrial projects of the broader region, leaving few behind in grassroots settings. Commercial drivers - Class 2 with air endorsement - are certainly within that description.
The third factor, exacerbated by the first two plus high inflation costs not ending soon, is wages. The job of replacement bus driver on the Southside route in question pays $28.45 per hour, 6 hours per day (split shift), five days per week. Is $850 per week going to attract a resume in today’s employment climate?
“Hiring bus drivers is a high priority, and we are actively advertising and having conversations with our schools and PACs to seek short and long terms solutions,” said Skinner. “We are hopeful that we can hire a full-time driver soon to enable the Southside bus routes to return to the previous schedules. We also need causal drivers to support routes when regular drivers have appointments or are ill.”
For some, driving a school bus offers right working conditions for their lifestyle and aspirations. Anyone interested in driving a school bus is asked to email cupejobs@sd91.bc.ca for more information.
A direct connection to the Southside job posting can be accessed here.