Free transit resumes for some students
Peterborough Transit Route 7 will accommodate Stewart pupils
Select Peterborough students will once again receive free access to public transit to get to school.
The news was shared during Tuesday night’s Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board meeting, courtesy of Student Transportation Services of Central Ontario (STSCO) governance committee co-chair Jaine Klassen Jeninga.
For several years, public transit has been used by STSCO on behalf of school boards as an effective means of transportation. The service was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained so as the service struggled with driver shortages.
Klassen Jeninga said recent discussions with Peterborough Transit regarding re-establishing service to eligible secondary students yielded positive results, with the company confirming they have capacity to take on school routes for STSCO in September.
“However, this will need to be done in a phased-in approach,” said Klassen Jeninga.
Peterborough Transit Route 7 will accommodate Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School students with an additional bus for overflow in the morning and afternoon. Monthly passes will be distributed to the school for eligible students.
“Bus passes will also be available at the school for the last two weeks of June as a practice run for students … to get students comfortable with using public transit,” explained Klassen Jeninga.
Business and corporate services superintendent April Foster added roughly one third of potentially eligible families have filed for busing via STSCO’s new opt-in requirement.
In previous years, all eligible students were automatically registered for busing for the beginning of each school year. The new system aims to allow school boards to schedule bus service more effectively.
Families have until May 31 to register in order to give staff time to plan routes for the new school year.
Trustee Paul Brown expressed concern over the deadline and potential impact of “last minute” registrations.
“Other boards have used the optin model and it works quite well,” said Foster, adding she is not
concerned there will be significant numbers added come September.
“For those that do, it just might take a couple weeks to co-ordinate pick up.”
Students are eligible for bus transportation if they live more than one kilometre from the school for junior kindergarten through Grade 3 students, further than 1.6 kilometres for grades 4 through 6, and further than 3.2 kilometres for grade 9 through 12 students.
Opt-in forms can be submitted online through the Parent Portal at stsco.ca.