Many school service centers (CSS) in Quebec are facing student transportation problems due to the shortage of bus drivers. The CSS des Affluents, in Lanaudière, has just formed its own “flying” team of drivers to carry out the circuits left uncovered by the transporters. Other CSSs are following the same path and are preparing to purchase school sedans. For its part, the Federation of Bus Transporters is surprised that Quebec is financing such projects rather than helping the industry more.
The CSS des Affluents has employed six bus drivers for two months, four of whom are full-time. He rents a bus and has four others, vehicles donated by another service center. “In the morning, we have a resource who receives cancellations and we give assignments to our drivers at the last minute,” explains Sylvio Parent, school transportation coordinator.
From Repentigny to Terrebonne, via Saint-Sulpice, there are numerous replacements at short notice. “In December, 74 courses were announced as canceled. We covered 53 on that,” says Mr. Parent. During the first two weeks of January, the team took over on 54 of the 90 canceled circuits. Despite this initiative, many students had to go to school on their own.
“It is certain that we cannot cover all the absences with our six drivers and five buses. That’s not what’s going to solve all our problems,” admits Sylvio Parent. But it is a useful spare tire. In 2022-2023, the CSS recorded 6,650 service breakdowns affecting some 50,000 students. “We are not heading towards astronomical figures like last year,” assures the school transport coordinator.
Daniel Béchard, 62, is one of six drivers hired by Affluents. “I started from zero,” says the former employee manager in the mechanics and heavy machinery sector. “When they hired me, they trained me, supported me in my training to be a bus driver. » You must obtain a class 2 driving license to drive such a vehicle. Daniel Béchard says he is confident behind the wheel, even if his journeys change daily. “I love challenges! » he proclaims. He also says he likes “good contact” with children.
According to Sylvio Parent, the salary offered to drivers is “equivalent” to that granted by private carriers. The pilot project is expected to last two years; time, we hope, for the shortage to calm down or be resolved.
Five pilot projects
In addition to the Affluents initiative, the Ministry of Education is funding five pilot projects aimed at “optimizing” school transportation in various regions, including the Laurentians and Montérégie.
In Laval, the service center plans to recruit two school transportation inspectors whose mission will be, among other things, “to ensure bus routes if necessary when all other possible solutions [auront] been exhausted.” The local CSS is preparing to purchase two nine-seater school sedans, the vehicle “most affected by transport breakdowns” and which allows paratransit. “Our inspectors could use a bus or minibus belonging to one of our carriers to provide service to students if necessary,” we specify in an email.
The Pointe-de-l’Île CSS plans to purchase a sedan and hire a school transportation inspector “who would act as driver on days when necessary.”
In shortage since the pandemic
The vice-president of the Bus Transport Federation, Caroline Vallée, is surprised that Quebec is distributing sums of money to educational organizations when the industry needs it to attract drivers. “We have a committee with the government to find solutions, and they always tell us that they are not able to have additional money to help us with our problems,” she said.
The shortage of school bus drivers has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with older workers leaving the profession to avoid contracting the disease. In the large regions of Montreal and Quebec, “many carriers” are experiencing service breakdowns linked to lack of staff, notes Mme Valley.
“There, we are squandering money on one side and the other rather than concentrating it, sending it to the right place to try to counter this shortage and to have more competitive salaries in the “industry,” she says.
Quebec has increased funding for school transportation by $130 million in 2022-2023. “The envelope granted has been increased to take into consideration various parameters, including the increase in diesel costs, labor costs, etc. », Specifies the Ministry of Education by email. Mme Vallée retorts that this increase was “above all” intended to “compensate for fuel increases”.
School bus drivers want their piece of the pie. Around fifty of them, employed by the Ro-Bus transporter in Châteauguay, went on strike on Wednesday. Since October 31, 350 Autobus Transco drivers in Montreal have also been on strike, depriving 15,000 students of school transportation.
“Earn $20,000 to $25,000 [par année], it makes no sense,” says Josée Dubé, president of the school transportation sector of the Federation of Public Service Employees (FEESP), affiliated with the CSN. “The work we do must be recognized. » According to her, carriers have recently concluded “very nice settlements” with their drivers by offering them salary increases of 45% to 53% over six years. “It takes a revolution in school transportation! » she concludes.