Contract talks stalled between Renfrew County school bus companies and transportation consortium

With the new school year fast approaching, 10,000 students in Renfrew County could be without school bus transportation come September.

The contract between school bus operators and the Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC) has expired.

Contract negotiations between the parties has broken off, with the start of the new school year in the Ottawa Valley just three weeks away.

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For families like Lessia Stefanison's, whose daughter will be starting grade one in the fall, it's a big disruption to their routine.

"It's just deflating because we've gone through so many disruptions in the past four years now," the mother of two tells CTV News.

"This was going to be the year where the kids were fully independent with getting on and off the bus, and that changes everything."

School bus drivers in Renfrew County say operating costs have increased between 30 and 70 per cent since the pandemic. The latest offer from the RCJTC fell 12 per cent short of what operators say is required.

"What they're offering us doesn't come anywhere near what we're trying to recoup from Covid years," said Alan Jackson, director of Renfrew County Bus Lines, speaking on behalf of the county's bus operators.

"This year alone we have six 2011 (buses) that are being replaced, and that will come in at $1 million. So they've gone up since Covid 71 per cent."

In a statement, RCJTC General Manager Justin Jeffrey said the consortium is limited in what it can offer, adding, "meeting those requests is impossible within the existing transportation budgets without pulling dollars from schools and student programming."

Jackson also expressed frustrations saying that bus operators in neighbouring jurisdictions are being offered significantly more money.

"Renfrew County, geographically, is the largest area in Ontario, and we're minimum 20 per cent under everybody else around us for funding."

Seven bus operators in Renfrew County serviced 200 routes last year to 52 schools. Jackson says buses and drivers in the county are ready to go for Sept. 4, the first day of the school year.

But unless a deal can be struck, it will be the parents transporting students.

"If there's no buses and everybody's dropping off their kids, the town's not set up very well for everybody doing car drop offs," says Stefanison.