October 6th, 2017

School bus operators are currently experiencing a school bus driver shortage. This shortage is being experienced across the province, and Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR) has until this year been able to provide consistent service to all schools.

For the region’s public and Catholic schools, 426 bus routes have been contracted to provide home to school transportation, 7 of which have no permanent driver. In addition, the pool of temporary/substitute drivers needs to be augmented by 30 new staff for service to return to normal levels. These shortages may result in certain students experiencing delays when travelling to school or going home. We are working to minimize issues where possible, and in most cases, families will see no impact resulting from the driver shortage.

Bus operators have increased their recruitment and training activities to ensure we return to normal levels of service in the near future. The process of training and certifying a school bus driver takes time to complete as it requires individuals to undergo training, testing, and background checks before they are qualified to be road ready.

Based on the information we have today, it is expected that service levels at all schools will return to normal within 60 days.

Please call us if you have any questions at 519-650-4934.

Posted on behalf of Benoit Bourgault, General Manager of STSWR