School trustees rethink longer walk distances

After initially rejecting the idea, Hamilton public school trustees are considering increasing the maximum walking distance for kindergarten students — albeit not as much as recommended by staff.

Members of the policy committee have agreed to consult the public on setting a new limit of 1.2 kilometres next September, up from the current one kilometre — the same as the Catholic board’s maximum — before students become eligible to ride a school bus.

Staff had recommended an upper limit of 1.6 kilometres to match the distance for Grade 1 to 8 — a move that would have taken five buses off the road in response to trustees’ request for potential solutions to a persistent driver shortage that is delaying routes.

Board chair Todd White said matching distances with the Catholic board makes sense, since it’s a partner in the transportation consortium that contracts busing for both boards, which have an ongoing combined shortage of 20 to 25 drivers.

He said trustees can always “ease the pain” by phasing in the change to minimize the impact on existing JK students.

“There’s a lot of in-betweens,” White said.” It’s not as black and white as you’re on or you’re off.”

Associate director Stacey Zucker said reviewing the busing policy is also necessary because the transportation consortium’s annual bill is expected to go up by a minimum of $5 million when contracts with four bus providers end in two years.

To find other savings, trustees asked staff to explore having high school students possibly ride city buses where possible.

Zucker said the board presently provides school buses for secondary students beyond a 3.2kilometre walk limit because it’s cheaper than the $625 for an annual HSR pass, although that could change in two years.

White said partnering with the city is an obvious potential way to get more school buses off the road, especially with the planned LRT line and BLAST network of rapid bus routes.