School buses pick up children outside a school in Redcliff (CHAT News photo Kevin Kyle)

By Brendan Miller

School bus shortage could impact rural routes despite increased funding for transportation

May 31, 2023 | 5:06 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – More students will have the option to ride a school bus next fall.

All three area school divisions say they plan to add more routes to reduce student wait times and provide parents more transportation options. Those plans may be stalled though, as the largest local school bus and driver contractor says they are facing challenges getting new drivers on the road.

Prairie Rose Public Schools has the added challenge of recruiting and retaining drivers who will operate their buses in rural areas.

Chief financial officer Ryan Boser says they plan to add four new bus routes next fall and are working with Southland Transportation to fill driver positions.

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“There’s no doubt it is a challenge for all school divisions with this expectation of increased service. We are already feeling the heat now with regards to drivers so the worry is that it.” says Boser.

Southland Transportation is actively looking to recruit new drivers and working with local school divisions to provide more incentives.

“I’m not going to minimize the risk of drivers. It has been a challenging year and I’m not going to be bold enough to predict that there’s not going to be a future problem,” said Arjan Slagmolen, Southland Transportation regional director of southern Alberta.

“We’ve definitely gotten over the worst of it this year and have substantial improvement over the past number of months. We are hoping that continues, said Slagmolen.

However it’s a different story inside Medicine Hat city limits.

On Wednesday, the Medicine Hat Public School Division announced it would be restoring two bus routes for students in Redcliff who attend Connaught School, River Heights School and Crescent Heights High School. Supt. Mark Davidson says they had to cut those routes during the pandemic.

“Families of children who attend primarily our French immersion program have asked when or if we could return that service to them. The funding model wouldn’t have allowed it until just now,” says Davidson.

The public division also plans to add five more routes inside city limits to reduce student wait times. Three will service students in the public division and two will service students in the Medicine Hat Christian School Society.

The Catholic school division says they plan to add three new bus routes next fall.

Another worry is purchasing new school buses.

“What we are hearing is that contractors are waiting anywhere from six to 12 months for new buses to come in and so if they don’t have them on order that becomes an issue for being able to provide that service in the fall,” explains Boser.

Slagmolen says the supply of new buses simply can’t keep up with the demand.

“If you were to order a bus today I mean you’d probably be lucky to get it in less than a year,” he says. “We have been quoted up to about a year, the prices of buses have gone up dramatically. The latest number we looked at was about a 36 per cent increase in the cost of a new bus,” says Slagmolen.

Slagmolen says new vehicle parts are 50 per cent more expensive with the price ballooning to an increase of more than 300 per cent in certain situations. It’s making the purchase of new buses more difficult.

Southland Transportation says currently Medicine Hat only has a few unassigned routes, which they are able to fill with part-time and temporary drivers.

Under the funding model in the 2023 Alberta budget, school districts across the province received a total of $414 million over the next three years.