Cariboo Chilcotin School District 27 (SD27) said bus services for students will continue to evolve as parents and students adjust to changes which came into effect Sept. 4.
"We're continuing to work together to improve things," said Cheryl Lenardon, the new SD27 superintendent for 2024-25.
Lenardon admitted the implementation of the changes to bus routes and rules could have been done better and they are still working on making adjustments, as she spoke at a finance and facilities committee meeting on Sept. 10.
"We do acknowledge it didn't go as smoothly as it should," she said, as she gave an update to the school board trustees on behalf of staff.
She then said the actual pickup and transportation of students did go fairly smoothly in the first week of classes.
As the new routes were implemented, staff travelled the routes to ensure no students were left standing and waiting, unaware of changes to bus stops and routes.
"This is a change that is going to evolve over time until we get to a point where we are within what was intended for bussing," said Lenardon, noting there are many considerations involved.
She said the school district is engaged in working with different partners, including the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and noted it is not the sole responsibility of the school district to ensure the infrastructure is safe for students walking to and from bus stops or schools.
Parents in 108 Mile Ranch and Russet Bluff area voiced concerns. Parents in the 108 said they had concerns about the narrow roads, speeding drivers, lack of lighting and lack of sidewalks students will have to navigate with longer walks to school or bus stops. Russet Bluff parents were concerned about the location of a bus stop in their neighbourhood at South Lakeside Drive and Grebe Drive, requiring the bus to turn around and back up across the intersection.
"We're continuing to work together to explore ways to improve things so that more students can actually walk safely to school and throughout the neighbourhoods," Lenardon said.
Two routes in the 108 Mile Ranch area were revised after parents raised their concerns, adding additional stops on Telqua Drive and Smith Road. The Russet Bluff bus stop was assessed and deemed safe by staff.
She said the school district will continue to monitor, noting the plan is to make adjustments in an annual process.
"We are committed to ensuring that our transportation routes are safe and efficient."
SD27 has received numerous complaints, Lenardon said, and so have affected elected officials as well as the Ministry of Education and Child Care.
The complaints concern safety, timelines, communication and timeliness.
"The process of improving our bus routes and our service to getting into line is something we're committed to," she finished. Lenarden was referring to the difference between SD27's annual transportation costs in comparison to other school districts in the province.
While the provincial average is two per cent of a school district's budget going to transportation, there are massive differences between districts in terms of size, weather and infrastructure requirements.
Urban school districts can rely on public transit for student transport rather than provide their own busses, and many areas would not face the kind of winter conditions SD27 and other school districts do.
SD27 spends nine per cent of their budget on transportation, while the provincial average is two per cent. Operations costs for SD27 are also five per cent higher than the provincial average. Across the province, the average district allocated 83 per cent of its budget to instruction, while in SD27 it is 70 per cent.
The changes included eliminating several bus stops, enforcing a longstanding policy requiring children living within three kilometres of their school to walk to school and limiting school-of-choice riders.
"This wasn't what we had envisioned how the communication was going to go and it's unfortunate that things have gone awry," said Angie Delainey, school district trustee, noting she had faith in staff working to get things back in order to make sure communications are more effective.
SD27 had 1,886 registered bus riders and there were 300 applications for bus service still pending at the time of the meeting. These applications were received after the window for applications had closed and then reopened again for late submissions.
There were 166 grandfathered courtesy riders who will still be allowed to ride the bus who are not technically eligible but have been allowed to keep their seats as the changes come into effect.
The school district has had more than 400 applications for new courtesy riders who were not previously allocated seats.
So far 55 new courtesy riders have been placed when seats on buses became available on buses and staff expressed confidence most of the other riders would also find seats by this week.
Anyone with concerns regarding transportation changes can send them to: transportation.info@sd27.bc.ca
With files from Patrick Davies and Monica Lamb-Yorski.
