Alberta school buses have been late for years, but there’s hope that may change
Alberta school buses have been late for years, but there’s hope that may change
I'm a school bus driver myself. I'll tell you the issue is that they're short drivers because they pay peanuts. The buses are coming that late because drivers are doing routes after their first routes. All the school bus companies somehow pay the exact same rates. There is no competition between them, but "they're trying everything."
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All the school bus companies somehow pay the exact same rates. There is no competition between them
School bus lines tend to be natural monopolies as the school boards – which are also monopolies – typically contract all the bussing required from one provider, so I don't discount your no competition assertion.
But all businesses converging on the same price is also a sign of strong competition. In a competitive market each player will keep sharpening their pencils until there is no room left. Once the pencils have been sharped to where they can be sharpened no more, everyone will end up in the same place. Only in a market lacking competition can there be room for price to diverge.
Edmonton has at least 6 private companies contracted to the school boards running busses. Busses running an hour and a half late on the daily is a failure for a transportation business. If these private companies can’t get our kids to school on time then maybe the province needs to step in.
maybe the province needs to step in.
That's exactly what they don't want to do.
There is almost no chance the contract doesn't stipulate when the busses must arrive. But what are you going to do with that? Sue the bus lines for breach of contract and put them out of business? Okay, cool, but then you're going to have to pay more to whoever rises up to take their place. Or you can pay more to the lines that exist, to allow them more room to pay for staff, but then you have to pay more. Or you can build your own line, which will require paying the most of all (short term, at least).
There is no alternative that won't see the province paying more. Which they don't want to do because then they have to raise taxes. There is nothing that scares a province more than having to raise taxes. The people of the province stop playing nice when taxes go up. Especially in Alberta.
Or you can roll them in to the school board, stop running school busses for profit, bring the drivers on to the AUPE, treat them fairly, and attract enough drivers to fill the routes.
I don’t really care if it costs more. It’s an important part of education and we should be spending money on it.
I just retired from driving school bus in rural SK. The school division owns the buses and hires the drivers. We're members of CUPE and get full benefits, including the same pension plan as the teachers.
They still have trouble finding drivers. Part of it might be the pay, although I was pretty happy. I think most of it is lack of information and stereotyping. Most people are surprised by the pay and benefits when compared to typical part time jobs. A lot of people think dealing with kids and their parents is a nightmare. I had very few problems and don't know any drivers who struggle with kids or parents often enough to matter. I can tell you that it's a lot easier than dealing with the general public and a boss looking over your shoulder in retail!
Obviously, it won't work if you need high income full time work, but if you're already juggling jobs, you might as well drive school bus as one of them, at least around here.
I don’t really care if it costs more.
I didn't realize you were the only person in Alberta. Sorry for not realizing that earlier.
But that questions why you haven't already done something? Given that you are the only person in Alberta, there is nobody else to do it.
Uhhh… k?
How about this solution? Work it in to their contracts that they pay heavy fines for busses running more than a half hour late in reasonable weather. It’s not the drivers making the busses late, it’s the companies.