Back-to-School Bus Service in Doubt for Grey-Bruce Students as Contract Talks Stall
Bluewater and Bruce-Grey Catholic boards warn families buses may not run in September. Here's what's behind the stalled operator contract talks.
Families across Grey and Bruce counties should prepare to get their children to school themselves in September.
That is the message in a letter sent to parents and guardians today by AJ Keene, chief executive officer (CEO) of Bluewater District School Board.
“Over the past several months, Bluewater District School Board, Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, and Shared School Services have been working with our local school bus operators to negotiate renewed contracts within the funding parameters set by the Ministry of Education,” Keene wrote. “Despite continued efforts, an agreement has not yet been reached.”
Keene announced that bus service may not be available for all students at the start of the school year in September, and warned that “families should be prepared to arrange alternative transportation for their children if needed.”
The letter does not apply to students living on Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation or Saugeen First Nation, whose communities provide transportation independently.
Parent Bethany Everding was frustrated to receive the notice. She has one child at Hepworth Central Public School, and told the Current Monday afternoon, “I’m so angry about this, all children should have equitable access to transportation to school.”
What the letter does not say
The letter names no bus operators. It gives no number of students or routes at risk, no expiry date for the current contracts, no dollar figure or percentage separating the two sides, and no deadline for a deal. It says the boards are “exploring plans to help reduce the impact” without describing those plans.
Both the consortium website and the BWDSB website now direct readers to the public announcement on the BWDSB website. A link on the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board website entitled “Transportation” sends visitors to the consortium website, as well.
Eight operators serve the two boards, according to the consortium’s operator list: First Student in Owen Sound, Kincardine and Dundalk; Voyago; Martins School Bus Transit Ltd.; Montgomery Bus Lines; Wathke Bus Lines; and Ross E. Young Bus Lines. The boards have not said which of them are party to the stalled talks.
The Owen Sound Current has asked Bluewater District School Board how many students and routes are at risk, which operators it is negotiating with and whether they bargain as a group, what the boards last offered in percentage terms, when the current contracts expire, whether a request for proposals was issued and whether anyone bid, what the contingency plans are, whether the Edulog opt-in change is related, and why a 10.7% increase in provincial transportation funding did not produce an agreement.
Why this is happening
The dispute sits on top of a provincial funding change that has strained transportation budgets across Ontario for three years.
Ontario pays for school busing through the Student Transportation Fund, a line inside Core Education Funding. The ministry sets the envelope. Consortia like Shared School Services negotiate rates with private operators out of what they are given.
In 2023-24, the ministry replaced a per-student model with one built on routing simulation data and per-vehicle benchmarks covering capital, operating, licensing and driver costs.
The ministry’s technical guide for 2026-27, released May 8, projects $1.44 billion province-wide and makes two mechanical changes that alter what a route is worth: funded route time now rounds to the nearest 15-minute increment, and the ministry has set a minimum daily funded time for bus routes. Benchmarks were updated “to reflect changes in market costs and inflation.”
The province is also standardizing who qualifies for a bus.
Under the criteria now rolling out, students in junior and senior kindergarten must walk up to 800 metres to school, Grades 1 to 8 up to 1.6 kilometres, and Grades 9 to 12 up to 3.2 kilometres. Maximum one-way ride times are 75 minutes for elementary students and 90 minutes for secondary students.
Transitional funding that has cushioned boards against the new model ends in 2027-28.
Boards elsewhere have already reported the squeeze. Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario, which serves the Upper Canada and Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario boards, told trustees in February it faces a shortfall and may cut service to close it.
“We are looking at a significant gap,” general manager Janet Murray said. “That funding formula is based on the desire of the ministry to have uniform levels of service across the province.” That consortium is applying the new walk distances this September.
Grey-Bruce’s allocation rose, and by more than most.
The ministry’s board-by-board projections, released May 8, show Bluewater is projected to receive $21,974,573 for student transportation in 2026-27 — an increase of $2,130,119, or 10.7%. Bruce-Grey Catholic is projected to receive $8,148,607, up $741,068, or 10%. The provincial total rose 4.7%, from $1.379 billion to $1.443 billion.
Both boards, in other words, are projected to receive more than double the province-wide increase.
The pattern holds over two years. Bluewater's transportation allocation has climbed 22.4% since 2024-25, when it stood at $17.9 million, and Bruce-Grey Catholic's has risen 21% from $6.7 million. The provincial total rose 12.2% over the same period.
Together, the two boards are projected to receive $30.1 million for student transportation this year.
Two caveats apply. The allocation funds the entire transportation system — buses, contracted vans, taxis, transit and consortium administration — not only payments to bus companies. And because the formula funds vehicles and route time rather than students, a larger allocation can reflect more funded routes rather than a higher rate per bus.
What the boards offered operators is not public. That is the central unanswered question in this dispute.
What operators say
School Bus Ontario, which represents operators, has called the formula “disastrous.” In an August 2024 release, the association said new buses cost roughly 71% more than before the model changed, parts, tires and brakes 50% more, insurance more than 30% more, and driver wages 20% more, while the ministry cut fuel funding by roughly half a cent per litre.
“Some bus operators are still owed millions for the 2023/24 school year and are heading into this new year without knowing how they will be paid for fuel,” executive director Nancy Daigneault said at the time.
The Current has not yet reached the operators negotiating in Grey-Bruce, and does not know whether they bargain as a group.
The Renfrew precedent
Renfrew County offers the closest comparison, and it is not reassuring.
Six operators and that county’s joint consortium failed to reach a deal in the summer of 2024. Students returned to class on September 4 with no bus service at all, and stayed without it for more than a month.
The operators said in an August 2024 release that the consortium's “last offer of 12% falls woefully short of the 30% to 70% increase in costs to operate,” and that they were paid up to 20% less than counterparts in Ottawa and Kingston. The province added $2.2 million.
A deal came in early October 2024, covering multiple years through at least 2028-29, and the boards compensated families.
Local context
Grey-Bruce busing has been unsettled before. In November 2025, First Student Canada drivers represented by Unifor Local 4268 came within days of striking, which would have cut service on 34 routes carrying about 2,260 students. Drivers in Owen Sound and Kincardine ratified agreements that November and no strike took place.
That was a labour dispute between a company and its drivers — a separate matter from the contract between the boards and the operators themselves.
Ten days before Keene’s letter, Bluewater announced it would stop assigning buses automatically. Families must now opt in through a new Edulog parent portal app. “The new app requires any families who need transportation to opt in as school busses will not be assigned automatically as per past practice,” communications officer Jamie Pettit said.
The board did not link the change to the negotiations, and the Current has asked whether the two are connected.
Bluewater trustees passed a balanced 2026-27 budget on June 16.
What families can do now
The boards direct questions to communications@sharedschoolservices.ca.
Families who need a bus in September should register through the Edulog portal regardless of the dispute, since routes will not be assigned automatically.
Anyone planning alternative arrangements — carpools, walking groups, workplace schedule changes — has roughly two weeks before classes resume.
This story will be updated.
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