School bus runs cancelled in Cape Breton due to driver shortages

Parents in Cape Breton Regional Municipality are frustrated by a growing number of school bus cancellations this year, resulting in missed school days for some students and missed work for parents.

Evan McNeil of Howie Centre, N.S., has two sons, one attending junior high and the other in senior high school in Sydney. Over the past nine school days, McNeil said the bus has been cancelled four times, meaning no rides to and from school.

"We have to rearrange our schedule to sometimes be late for work and then I know some parents seem to just take the whole day off work," McNeil said. 

Last year, McNeil said he does not remember more than one or two cancellations. 

Coun. Steve Parsons, who represents the area on regional council, said he's heard concerns from parents and the McNeil family is not the only one affected by these delays.

"In my particular case, my district, I've received probably a dozen calls in the last five or six school days," Parsons said. "Some of them are repeating because it's happened the second time that their bus routes for their children have been cancelled."

Parsons said the cancellations are disruptive for families in rural communities. Having to drive students to school interrupts their work day, and some have no other way to get their children to school.

"Some families only have one vehicle and one of the parents may be gone to work that day," he said. "So they're a little bit concerned and frustrated."

The Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education acknowledges it needs more casual drivers to backfill for staff who are ill or away. 

"We just don't have enough spare drivers to fill those absences at this time," said Lewis MacDonald, director of operations. "We are constantly hiring, interviewing, training new drivers and as soon as we can get them on our roster, they're working almost every day."

A new group of drivers are currently receiving training, and MacDonald expects to see more vacancies filled within the next two weeks. MacDonald said he knows the cancellations are difficult for families to handle.

"At this point last year we only had three bus cancellations, whereas this year we've had 22," he said. "We sympathize with them and knowing that for some this may be the only method of transportation."

MacDonald said he hopes the problem will be resolved within the next several weeks.