School buses cancelled by weather, driver shortage

There are more school bus cancellations to pass along Wednesday but this time, not all are for the weather.

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA), which manages English school buses in Ottawa, said in a news release Tuesday that more than 20 drivers told them over the weekend they wouldn't be coming back to work.

OSTA, which has had a driver shortage for years, said these new problems would affect 3,500 to 4,000 more students. It has a list of routes on its website.

Vicky Kyriaco, OSTA's general manager, told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning Wednesday because of privacy rules they aren't sure if drivers have COVID-19 or are isolating because they are close contacts. Some have listed return dates and others haven't.

She said it's hard to get a handle on exactly how many drivers the organization is short and why, adding that OSTA is working with bus companies to figure out exactly what the extent of the problem is.

"It's a mixed bag of reasons why there's the driver shortage and the massive cancellations today."

On Tuesday, they had 39 runs and 16 routes that weren't going to be covered, she said.

"That's a huge shift from yesterday to today."

Her advice is to check online or sign up for alerts to stay updated.

"It's about becoming adept at checking the information online, so not necessarily assuming that everything's tickety-boo until someone actually contacts you and tells you it's not," she said.

"There are so many variables right now. All we can do is ask parents to keep themselves informed and we will hand out as much information online as we possibly can."

Snow, ice, rain, melt, freeze in forecast

For the third day in a row, the weather is causing some school bus cancellations.

English and French buses are not running in the Belleville, Kingston and Trenton areas. They have also been cancelled for English schools in the Madawaska area. All schools are open.

The agency managing English school buses south and east of Ottawa, STEO, has warned of delays and local cancellations.

Kingston's forecast has about two centimetres of snow and a 60 per cent chance of rain under a high rising to 3 C by noon.

Ottawa and surrounding eastern Ontario communities are under an Environment Canada weather advisory calling for five to 10 centimetres of snow with a risk of freezing drizzle and then a quick freeze in the evening.

The capital's temperature is expected to go from -16 C at 6 a.m. to around zero at 6 p.m., then back down to -18 C by 6 a.m. Thursday.