Frustration grows as officials warn Ottawa school bus driver shortage could last months
Students in the capital have now been back in class for weeks but a school bus driver shortage isn't getting any better and could last months.
It's yet another roadblock for students and parents amid an already challenging pandemic school year.
Just weeks in, a worsening school bus driver shortage in Ottawa has left thousands of students without bus transportation to school.
"My son and daughter got their buses actually at the start of the school year and somehow they just got cancelled after one and a half weeks or two weeks, what has happened I don't understand," said Atif Sidiqqi, whose kids' buses have been cancelled.
Saddiqi is driving his kids to school, taking turns with neighbours when he can to share the burden. He says taking public transportation would take his kids hours.
"It's quite frustrating because COVID has been here for two years now and OSTA has enough time to plan these things," said Saddiqi.
The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) said since July more than 100 permanent drivers have quit, and only 46 new drivers have been deployed.
"We still have drivers who are concerned about their health and who are looking with trepidation to whether they should return to not," said Vicky Kyriaco, General Manager and CAO of the OSTA.
One hundred and fourteen routes and 484 runs have been cancelled, leaving more than 3,000 students to rely on OC Transpo.
The city's west end has been hardest hit.
"The service demands are much higher than the supply, we have a reduction of drivers but an increase in numbers of students who need transportation," said Kyriaco.
The authority warns the issue could last weeks if not months.
"Is it sustainable to expect retirees to be our main pool or candidates? Do we have to look at changing what the wage structure could be with out operators," Kyriaco said.
The OSTA said as drivers become available, rural routes and low-income school communities will be prioritized.
Parents are hopeful for a solution before the colder weather hits.
"For sure my frustration will go up if this stays during winter time, if I have to this while there's snow or freezing rain outside," said Siddiqi.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Nine suspects arrested in $24M gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise and it turned into a rocking kitchen party
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Liberals must now sell a budget they say will help younger Canadians catch up
It's now up to the federal Liberal government to sell a spending plan it says will help younger Canadians catch up to their elders.
Ontario woman out $30K after investing in mortgage company accused of being unlicensed
An Ontario nurse is fighting to recover tens of thousands of dollars in savings she invested in a mortgage company that has since been accused of operating without a licence.
Canada is expected to win 22 medals at the Paris Olympics
Canada is expected to win a total of 22 medals, including six gold, at the Paris Summer Olympics, which open on July 26.