Bus Operators Set Friday Deadline for Grey-Bruce Deal, Say 16,000 Students Potentially Impacted
School Bus Ontario says 308 routes and more than 16,000 students are at risk of losing school transportation unless Grey-Bruce contracts are signed by Friday, August 21.
The association representing Ontario’s school bus operators says buses will not run in Grey and Bruce counties on the first day of school unless contracts are signed by Friday.
School Bus Ontario issued a statement Monday afternoon, hours after Bluewater District School Board warned families that bus service “may not be available for all students” in September. The association put numbers to a warning the boards issued earlier in the day.
More than 16,000 students are affected across roughly 308 routes, according to the association, and all six bus companies contracted by the Student Transportation Service Consortium of Grey Bruce are without agreements for September.
“If new contract agreements cannot be reached by Friday, August 21, buses will not be on the road for the first day of school,” the statement said.
Classes resume September 8.
Related:
The operators’ account
School Bus Ontario disclosed that the previous contracts expired in June.
“Never in the history of school busing has the government waited so long to engage with operators to renew their contracts,” executive director Nancy Daigneault said. “Without contracts in place, operators cannot make the investments and commitments necessary to prepare for September.”
Operators remain “ready and willing” to run the routes, the association said, but cannot complete mandatory inspections, preventative maintenance, route planning, driver scheduling or dry runs without signed agreements.
“This is not a political issue for parents,” Daigneault said. “It’s about their morning routine, their jobs, their children’s safety, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing the school bus will arrive. Families don’t care about contract negotiations — they care whether the bus shows up in September.”
The association said Grey-Bruce operators have raised driver wages by 25 to 30% over the life of the current contracts, from 2021 to 2026, against what it called a total provincial funding increase of 17.5% over the same period.
“Operators have absorbed those additional labour costs because getting qualified drivers behind the wheel is essential to safely transporting students,” Daigneault added.
The association also said a new school bus now costs $185,000, up from $110,000 in 2020, blaming inflation, supply chain disruption and tariffs. They said operators need contracts longer than three years to finance vehicles that can take up to 12 months to arrive.
Grey-Bruce school transportation, by the numbers
Six companies serve the two boards, which matches the consortium’s public operator list once its eight entries are reconciled: First Student appears three times, for its Owen Sound, Kincardine and Dundalk operations, alongside Voyago, Martins School Bus Transit Ltd., Montgomery Bus Lines, Wathke Bus Lines and Ross E. Young Bus Lines.
The route and ridership figures come from the association alone. Neither the consortium nor Shared School Services publishes a route count or daily ridership number, and the boards have not confirmed either figure.
For scale: Bluewater reported more than 18,900 students last October, and Bruce-Grey Catholic projected 5,090 for 2025-26 — roughly 24,000 between them. On the association’s figure, about two-thirds of students in the two boards ride a bus.
Two versions of who is responsible point in the same direction
The association’s statement is addressed to the province. Its headline demands the Ontario government act, and it says students and their parents face a scramble “unless the Ontario government reaches contract agreements with school bus operators.”
The province does not hold those contracts. The consortium does, on behalf of Bluewater and Bruce-Grey Catholic boards. The province sets the funding envelope the consortium negotiates within.
The boards, for their part, told families they had been negotiating “within the funding parameters set by the Ministry of Education.” Their public notice says they worked “in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education” and have “a responsibility to work within the level of provincial funding provided.”
Both sides, in other words, point at Queen’s Park.
What the ministry actually provides is on the record. The ministry’s board-by-board projections give Bluewater $21,974,573 for student transportation in 2026-27, up 10.7%, and Bruce-Grey Catholic $8,148,607, up 10%. The provincial total rose 4.7%. Both boards are projected to receive more than double the province-wide increase.
What the boards offered the operators out of that money is unclear. When asked what increase Grey-Bruce operators are seeking, in percentage terms, and what the consortium last offered, Daigneault said School Bus Ontario does not want to “negotiate in the media.”
The same question was put to BWDSB Monday evening; we will provide an update if that information is made public.
Daigneault did tell Owen Sound Current that the amount allocated to school boards may differ from the amount ultimately received by operators under their signed contracts, and that “there remains a significant gap between the amounts stipulated in the legally agreed-upon contract terms and the funding distributed to boards by the province.”
Daigneault also said the consortium — the boards’ own joint transportation body — commissioned an independent study of local student transportation operating costs, and that operators were told the resulting cost model showed a substantial increase was needed to cover driver wages, mechanic wages, bus parts and new buses.
Precisely what that increase is and how far apart the sides are has not been released.
The Current has put the question to both MPPs whose ridings cover the affected schools. Paul Vickers, the Progressive Conservative member for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, and Lisa Thompson, the Progressive Conservative member for Huron-Bruce and a former education minister, were each asked whether they have raised the impasse with Minister Calandra, whether the province will intervene before Friday, whether they consider the current funding adequate, and what families should do if the deadline passes without a deal.
Any response received will be provided in upcoming coverage on this issue.
What families should do
Register through the Edulog parent portal if your child needs a bus. Bluewater stopped assigning routes automatically on August 7, so students who do not opt in will not be assigned a seat even if service runs.
Three weeks remain before classes resume. Families arranging carpools, walking groups or changes to work schedules should not wait on Friday’s outcome.
This story is ongoing; new information will be released as it becomes available.
Related:
