Ottawa school bus authority general manager departs role

A yellow school bus in Ottawa is seen in this undated photo. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

The general manager and chief administrative officer for the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) Vicky Kyriaco has departed from her role.

A media statement by OSTA president Matthew Lee announced Kyriaco's departure on Friday. The board of directors did not specify a reason why she will no longer serve in her role.

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"OSTA would like to sincerely thank Ms. Kyriaco for her 12 years of dedicated public service to the parents, guardians and students of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board," Lee said in Friday's OSTA statement.

"Following Ms. Kyriaco’s stewardship, OSTA remains committed to delivering reliable student transportation."

Kyriaco had been on a leave of absence since Oct. 3 as the authority grappled with significant bus driver shortages.

In October, the board apologized for failing to resolve the driver shortages before the beginning of the school year and announced Kyriako's leave of absence. The reason for her leave was never clarified.

The OSTA has made significant progress on hiring in recent months, bringing the number of bus driver vacancies to 20, down from 130 at the beginning of the school year.

The current driver shortage has resulted in the long-term cancellation of about 82 runs, or about 1.5 per cent of all transportation services managed by the OSTA.

OSTA says they anticipate most of the cancelled runs to be reinstated by January.

Lee said the board has started a recruitment process for a permanent general manager and is assuring parents the departure will not affect OSTA operations.

Interim operations manager Cindy Owens will continue in her role until a permanent replacement is found.