Sudbury consortium expecting school bus cancellations every day when school resumes

Sudbury school bus uncertainty continues As students prepare to return to school the Sudbury Students Services Consortium is anticipating multiple route cancellations. Here is why.

Sudbury — Many people across the north are preparing for students to return to the classroom Monday, including the Sudbury Student Services Consortium.

The consortium, which handles schools buses for all boards in the area, said while many drivers have been off the last few weeks, there have been some buses on the roads that were transporting special needs children to and from school.

Executive director Renée Boucher said she wants parents to know that safety is top of mind.

“The drivers (clean the buses) in the morning after their school bus run, they also do it again at night after the afternoon runs," Boucher said.

"We also require that everyone wear a mask, our drivers included. Our drivers will be provided with N95 masks, as well.”

She said while the driver shortage in Sudbury is improving, she still expects there will be cancellations every day as students return.

“We have six school bus routes that are going to be cancelled next week -- that’s for a driver shortage per se, without looking at COVID," Boucher said.

"However this particular school bus operator has trained new drivers over the Christmas break, so they just need a couple of days next week to get their hours in and then those six routes will no longer be cancelled."

She said they're hoping to have all six buses back on the road by next Thursday.

"So what that means is at the end of next week, every single route will be covered," Boucher said. "However, we do not have any additional spare drivers to help with illnesses on our school buses.”

Boucher encouraged parents to check the consortium website each day to ensure that their child's route is on the road that day.

More information can be found here.