The varsity bus authority that covers Renfrew County and the group that represents bus drivers each say there possible will not be any faculty bus service for round 10,000 college students when courses resume subsequent week except one thing drastically adjustments.
The contract between faculty bus operators and the Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC) has expired and contract negotiations have stalled.
In an announcement Monday, the Renfrew County College Bus Operators group stated the RCJTC has refused to barter a long-term catch-up contract and grant entry to a computerized planning system for bus routing.
“The choice by RCJTC to not negotiate and to lock us out of the system is an underhanded blow to our means to make sure secure and well timed transportation for college students,” stated Alan Jackson, spokesperson for the varsity bus operators. “And now, we’re shedding drivers. Some are actively searching for different jobs and others have already been pressured to safe different work to make ends meet for his or her households. That is making the state of affairs much more essential, since it is very tough to draw new drivers to start with.”
Justin Jeffrey, Normal Supervisor of the RCJTC, stated in response that the bus operators are demanding a finalized contract earlier than the beginning of the varsity yr.
“That is an annual course of, and up to now, there was a mutual understanding that transportation companies for college students can be out there to begin the varsity yr, whereas particulars of the contracts have been finalized. For the primary time ever, the varsity bus service firms are refusing to supply service till the contract extensions are finalized – consequently, a disruption to highschool bus service is probably going firstly of the varsity yr,” he stated in an e-mail to Ontario Chronicle Ottawa.
Jeffrey stated the route planning system incorporates private data of scholars and households.
“For privateness causes we can’t present entry to that data to any firm with out contracts in place with RCJTC,” he stated.
Jackson stated buses possible will not be out there till October on the earliest except one thing adjustments.
“We have put out the timeline for October. It may very well be sooner. All of it is dependent upon if we get again to the desk and we hammer it out over the subsequent 4 or 5 days,” he stated.
Dad and mom are actually left to wonder if their youngsters will be capable to get to highschool.
“Right here we’re, 5 enterprise days till faculty begins, and our youngsters do not have buses,” stated Chantelle Regier, an area guardian. “We’re stressing as dad and mom how you can get our youngsters backwards and forwards to highschool. It is simply unhappy. It is public training. We have to get our kids backwards and forwards to highschool. And faculty busses are our solely possibility.”
Bus operators are calling on the consortium to come back again to the desk.
“The Operators are calling on the Consortium to right away return to negotiations and current the safety of long-term settlement that may present funding stability for the dad and mom and youngsters, now pressured to scramble to seek out secure and dependable transportation for the primary month of faculty,” a information launch stated.
Working prices are the central difficulty. The RCJTC says they’re providing a 12 per cent funding enhance, however bus operators say prices have elevated between 30 and 70 per cent because the pandemic. The consortium maintains it can’t provide any more cash with out the varsity boards making cuts elsewhere.
“There was no motion from any of the varsity bus service firms that will result in agreements on new contract extensions and various choices won’t be in place quick sufficient to see buses on the roads from different service suppliers,” the RCJTC instructed households in a letter Tuesday.
Jackson stated Renfrew County Bus Traces needed to substitute six buses, at a price of $1 million. Wages for drivers are up greater than 30 per cent, and the price of components is up between 50 and 300 per cent, he stated.
“It is all about operational prices,” Jackson stated, talking with Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal. “We will not function if we do not have sufficient cash to function.”
Within the meantime, the RCJTC is telling households to be ready to make alternate preparations to get youngsters to highschool.
“We perceive how hectic this example is for households and the RCJTC continues to discover all choices to see faculty bus service in place for college students. We’ve got issued a Request For Provider {Qualifications} (RFSQ) in hopes of securing transportation companies from different firms,” Jeffrey stated.
Thus far, the RCJTC says it has secured contracts for 5 minivan routes within the area.
“The RFSQ has garnered curiosity and the consortium will proceed to have conversations with any firm that’s interested by offering service to college students inside Renfrew County,” stated Jeffrey in an e-mail to Ontario Chronicle Ottawa.
The Renfrew County District College Board and the Renfrew County Catholic District College Board issued a joint assertion Tuesday echoing feedback by the RCJTC on the bounds of accessible funds, including they help the consortium’s plan to hunt alternate choices.
“We’ve got the utmost appreciation and respect for the native faculty bus drivers who play an essential position in our communities, and the tutorial experiences of our college students,” the varsity boards stated. “In prioritizing the wants of scholars and their households, RCJTC is asking that the varsity bus service firms comply with proceed to supply pupil transportation companies for the beginning of faculty whereas they proceed discussions. The RCJTC is exploring all choices to see buses transporting college students on September 4th, and we help their ongoing efforts. These efforts embody exploring various firms to service our bus routes.”
Dad and mom, in the meantime, say driving their youngsters to highschool is not all the time possible.
“I’ve to be at my faculty for 8:30 and the varsity doesn’t open for him until 9:00, so getting him there may be going to be inconceivable,” stated native guardian Lindsay Gahan. “My husband goes to work for 7:00, in order that’s not possible for us.”
