School bus driver shortages: The new norm?

When picking up a grade two elementary student one cold and rainy November morning, our driver noticed a shivering young girl. Her coat was too small (he remembered she’d worn it for three years now) her sneakers were split and as she climbed the three steps to board the bus, he could see that she had no socks and her feet were wet. The next morning, he quietly handed her a small bag containing warm socks and a new pair of mittens as she climbed on the bus, no words were exchanged. The driver recalled the story with fondness, and moist eyes, saying her smile was brighter for a few days thereafter.

Much has been written and talked about recently in the media around the shortage of drivers in the GTHA, and the impact on families who lack reliable busing. Armchair quarterbacks cast blame, each weighing in on an industry normally taken for granted until crisis strikes. I can assure you that many parents can’t tell you anything about their school bus driver, their child’s bus route, or which company is responsible. They just expect a yellow bus to show up, on time, twice a day. School bus drivers are not the Kardashians, they’re not celebrated like pro athletes, or movie stars, or CEOs. No Zuckerbergs here, so move on. School bus drivers are not what we normally exalt in today’s society, though they should be. They are the salt of the earth. What school bus drivers do, day in and day out, is make a positive difference in children’s lives. The media, the education system, and the public in general consider school bus drivers as lowly service industry employees and largely undervalue them. It benefits no one for people to bash the current roster of drivers, paint a negative picture of the industry, or simply point out the challenges of the profession. Such bashing deters potential drivers, making matters worse. Instead, we need to recognize that school bus drivers are caring professionals who deserve our respect. Many thousands of school bus drivers across Ontario love their jobs, and it is largely because they care about our children — your children. There are huge non-monetary rewards from such a social environment in a world that is increasingly disconnected.

It is interesting to watch from afar, as I’m now retired and living on Vancouver Island, and see school board spokespeople predict the duration and resolution of the driver shortage. The dates are already slipping. In my day, if you were five drivers short in September, you would still be five drivers short in June. Turnover eclipses recruitment efforts. To suggest that the problem will be eradicated in a couple of weeks is naïve.

So what’s the fix? In a word — funding! While transparent, once nearly one billion passes from the Ministry of Education, opacity reigns. That’s a lot of money, albeit only 4 per cent of the education budget. Is it enough? Who knows? We don’t even know what school boards are paying consortia, what consortia are spending, and what is left to operators who do everything to actually provide the service. Rates paid to operators are not public. They should be. That would be transparent. There are multitudes of ways to ensure that drivers are compensated appropriately for the vast responsibility they assume. They all tie back to funding, and acknowledging that appropriate compensation for drivers is essential for safety and reliability. Even if the bus was autonomous, we’d want an adult on board to ensure rider safety, student management and proper communication. Today, that all falls to the driver. No one expects a transit driver to know your name, your stop location, if you are supposed to be met by a guardian, if you have allergies, and the list goes on. School bus drivers do all this and more, plus drive the bus safely through rush hour traffic.

Rest assured, the problem will be solved in just a couple of weeks! I have my doubts.