34 Hamilton school bus routes cancelled due to lack of drivers

One day after school boards warned they may have to cancel school bus routes, 34 CaledoniaBus Lines runs were cancelledon Thursday morning due to adriver shortage.

Of those routes, 17 are morning runs and 17 are afternoon runs.

This comes after school boards consolidated routes on Wednesday in an effort to spare the number of drivers.

Despite that, they sent a notice to families warning their best efforts may not be enough.

"Unfortunately the level of disruption is not likely to go away soon and we will continue to keep you informed," read the message to parents.

Before March break, Hamilton was already 30 drivers short.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it worse, with 56 drivers indicating a COVID-19 related reason for not returning to drive buses.

The boards added more incentives to attract drivers, but are still missing 59 drivers for mornings and 67 for afternoons.

On Wednesday,the first day all students returned to school together, more than 100 buses faced delays, many of them more than an hour long. Thursday has seen at least 114 delays.

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