Bus cancellations this school year exceed three-year average

School buses have been kept off the roads eight times so far

The number of school bus cancellations in Peterborough this school year is up about 62 per cent over the 20-year average.

So far this year, school buses servicing Peterborough city and county have been cancelled a total of eight times — including back-to-back days this week (Feb. 12 and 13) during a winter storm affecting most of southern Ontario.

That’s a marked increase over the previous average of six bus cancellations for the last three years and five-day average over the past 20 years, according to Joel Sloggett, chief administrative officer of Student Transportation Services of Central Ontario (STSCO), who concludes that “winters and driving conditions appear to be more challenging than years ago.”

When deciding whether or not to cancel buses for their area, STSCO representatives are constantly monitoring weather forecasts to identify possible transportation problems, as well as contacting all the bus companies that they work with and municipal roads departments by 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. the morning of.

Additionally, Sloggett notes that STSCO also communicates with other organizations tasked with student transportation in the region — including Kawartha Lakes, Durham, Trenton and Belleville — while making their decision. From there, STSCO and the bus companies make the call whether buses should run or not.

Individual drivers, in consultation with their respective bus company, can also weigh in on the road conditions of their specific route, Sloggett says. The goal is to make all such decisions by 6 a.m. and get the information out to students and parents through www.stsco.ca, on Facebook and Twitter as well as through local media.

Parents looking for direct notifications can sign up for automatic email alerts through the parent login feature on STSCO’s website as well.

“Common complaints usually revolve around people secondguessing decisions after the fact. With children’s safety at stake, we often need to err on the side of caution, but we try our best to make the right call every time,” Sloggett said.