Transportation Update

St. Paul Education operates 21 routes with its own fleet of buses and contracts out an additional 27 routes. We transport 1800 students daily over 1.5 million km per year. Similar to school divisions and municipalities across the province and country, we are experiencing a bus driver shortage.

The Division’s ongoing bus driver shortage is unfortunately leading to the cancellation of some routes due to illness and no replacement drivers. We are well aware of the impact canceling a route has on families. St. Paul Education has been working over the last 18 months to help mitigate the impact on students and schools. In response, we have:

• an ongoing recruitment campaign for bus drivers.

• paid for the training of drivers to support division and contractor routes.

• hired 4 new drivers and currently have 3 in training.

• reassigned routes to balance rider capacity and reduce the overall number of drivers required.

• used the Alertus App to provide proactive communication with families, schools, and our public. As bus cancellations are unpredictable and can occur with limited notice, we would like to remind all parents to sign up for the Alertus app. Instructions are available on our website: https://www.stpauleducation.ab.ca/alertus-app

Our students live across a large geographical area and rising fuel and insurance costs have impacted our contractors. To help alleviate some of these pressures, St. Paul Education has:

• provided ongoing support for insurance premiums.

• issued fuel price subsidy payments (with the assistance of the Government of Alberta).

• implemented a rider fee to increase contractor rates and improve driver compensation.

Rest assured that St. Paul Education is exploring all solutions to ensure students are able to access their school and in doing so minimize the impact on students, families, and school communities. We thank you for your patience & understanding.

Anyone interested in training to be a bus driver is invited to call 780-645-3323.