TVDSB can’t rule out school bus cancellations due to driver shortage

Parents and students must continue daily monitoring of the Thames Valley District School Board’s (TVDSB) school bus app amid the ongoing driver shortage.

At Tuesday’s special meeting of the public school board, trustees were told that some routes could experience disruptions this school year.

“The reality of driver shortages is that route cancellations may be unavoidable in some cases,” explained Cathy Lynd, Superintendent of Business.

If there is a rise in driver absences caused by COVID-19 outbreaks, or for other reasons, parents would be responsible to get their children to school.

Trustees were assured that the MyBigYellowBus App is updated as early as possible each day.

The board has been working with Student Transportation Services (STS) to recruit more drivers.

“They’ve been working with all of the bus operators for many weeks trying to help them with the recruitment efforts, and if anybody is interested please see the STS website,” added Lynd.

On Monday, Student Transportation’s Regional Manager Leslie Cross told CTV News that it operates about 1,000 routes in the London area, so an outbreak keeping 10 per cent of drivers home would disrupt about 100 routes.

“Everyone is in a tenuous situation,” said Cross.