Omicron illness, isolation requirements cause local school bus driver shortages

Parents should be prepared for school bus delays, and even route cancellations, in the coming weeks as students return to in-person learning because the Omicron variant may cause drivers to be unavailable for work. 

On Sunday evening, Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation Services was advising parents via Twitter that some routes would be delayed an hour or more in the morning and evening due to staffing shortages. 

The next morning all school bus routes were cancelled across Waterloo region and Wellington County due to a winter storm.

Finding enough drivers for all routes will continue to be an issue, say both Benoit Bourgault, general manager of Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region, and David Frier, the chief administrative officer for Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation Services.

"The biggest challenge for us is dealing with the number of people that are in isolation because of the new variant," Frier told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

It affects the entire system, he said. From the number of regular drivers, spare drivers — even administrative staff who can step in, in a pinch.

"It's going to be day-to-day and week to week until numbers start going down," said Frier. 

Having enough healthy teachers was one of the reasons cited by Premier Doug Ford when his government decided to push back in-person learning by two weeks at the beginning of January.

The premier has also warned of 20 to 30 per cent absenteeism across all sectors, due to the highly-transmissible COVID-19 variant. 

"We're all seeing what's happening in all sectors of the economy in all regions of the world: high rates of absenteeism are causing real challenges in public sector absenteeism," said Education Minister Stephen Lecce in an interview with The Morning Edition's host Craig Norris.

LISTEN | Education Minister Stephen Lecce explains what the province has done to keep schools from closing from lack of healthy teaching staff.

In Waterloo region, Bourgault said "we are dealing with a very fluid situation changing by the minute." He went on to write in a statement Monday afternoon that Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region had enough drivers to cover every route but there will be delays. 

"Please remember to support your school bus driver. If the driver is covering a late route and is not your regular driver, they have most likely already completed their regularly assigned route and are helping to make sure that your children can get to school on their route for in-person learning," wrote Bourgault. 

He encouraged families to register for notifications to stay up to date on delays.