School buses unlikely to run in Renfrew County when classes resume

Thousands of students in Renfrew County will likely have to find alternative ways to get to school next week after a group representingthe region's school bus companies said there's littlepossibility a deal will be reached between the companies and the consortium that co-ordinates school transportation in the region.

The warning comes two weeks after theRenfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC)sent a letter to familiessaying school bus companies hadrejected its most recent contract extension offers.

In a statement posted online Tuesday,Renfrew County School Bus Operators spokesperson Alan Jackson said the RCJTChad"failed to meet a crucial deadline."

"Without immediate action, buses will not be operation on all routes until October," he warned, attributing the impasse to "the Consortium's refusal to negotiate a long-term, catch-up contract, and to grant access to an essential computerized planning system, critical for organizing complex bus routing."

Consortium representative Justin Jeffrey called the companies' threat to withholdbus service at the start of the school year an"unprecedented tactic," and said the RCJTC is aiming to get school buses back on the road as early as possible.

The consortium coordinates200 bus routesfor students acrossthe Renfrew County District School Board and the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, providing service to some 10,000 students each school day.

Classes for students in bothboards beginWednesday, Sept. 4.

Families urged to make other plans

The bus companies have claimed the consortium is failing to pass along an extra $2.2 million allotted to Renfew County by Ontario'sMinistry of Educationfor the upcoming school year.

The ministry said the combined transportation budget for the 2024/25 school year for both the public and Catholic boards is $18.3 million.

Despite Renfrew County's large geographic size, Jackson said the bus companies are paid at least 20 per cent less than their counterparts in Ottawa and Kingston, Ont. CBC has not independently verified that claim.

The drivers are not represented by a union.

The more I think about it, I want to pull my hair out.- Kevin Sheaves, father of four

Jackson accused the consortium of trying to divide the region's six school buscompanies by asking themto sign separate agreements. He said if the smaller companies bow to that pressure, the consortium could try to leverage that against the larger ones.

"We're saying no, we want to continue as a group and we can negotiate as a group," he said, though he warned the longer negotiations drag on, the more likely it is some drivers will seek employment elsewhere, potentially leading to a shortage.

Jeffrey noted the consortium is negotiating with for-profit bus companies, not with the drivers themselves, and said the RCJTChas"a lot of respect for bus drivers and the important work they do in our community."

He said the ministry offered the consortium a 12 per cent funding increase this year, more than it typically receives.

"This is an increase we've never seen before," he said. "In the past, we've been happy when the number has reached four or five per cent. Typically it's a zero per cent, two per cent."

For now, Jeffrey said the consortium is urgingfamilies tomake other arrangements to get their kids to and from school next week.

Parents left scrambling

Kevin Sheaves, a father of four children who bus to school in Renfrew County, said that won't be so easy.

"The more I think about it, I want to pull my hair out," he said.

Sheaves,an HVACmechanic, said he's usually at work an hour before his kids head out the door in the morning.His partner works similar hours, so the couplerelies on buses anddaycare during the school year.

"Everybody knows what the living situation is like right now," he said. "People need to be working, they need money, they got to put food on the table, that kind of thing, soit's going to be hard."

He said hisfamily will likely have to rely on grandparents and friends to help out until the situation is resolved.

Shawna Walker said her twoboysmay not get to school at all.Walker, a single mother whodoesn't own a car, said their school is too far for her children to walk, and she has no family in the area.

She's been exploring other options such ascarpooling or sending her kids to schoolin a taxi, but neither option is ideal.

Walker blamed the situation on the province, which funds student transportation.

"Bus drivers are important and they do deserve money, but the schools are already very underfunded, so where are they going to pull the money from?" she asked. "The government needs to realize that children are important, and I feel like in general we don't value children."