With the winter driving season just around the corner, the Chinook's Edge School Division is looking for more school bus drivers, says director of transportation Dieter Brandt.
Although the division currently has enough drivers to cover its 120 routes, there is a need for alternate drivers to fill in for sick days and vacations, he said.
“We have enough to cover our needs right now, but we are short on spare drivers,” said Brandt. “We are definitely running short on spare drivers. In all our areas, throughout Chinook's Edge, we need a fair number (of spare drivers) because people do take holidays and they do get sick, but we still need to get the kids to school.
“We don't want to be in the situation where we have to start cancelling runs. Other divisions around the province are already in the situation where if they don't have a driver they cancel the run and the parents have to figure it out themselves.”
There are 41 schools in the Innisfail-based Chinook's Edge division, with about half of all students bused to their respective schools.
To become a school bus operator, drivers must go through a training program run by the division, and then must be certified by the province, he explained.
“We have a training process that they have to go through,” he said. “Some of our senior drivers, senior as in experience, are trainers who go with individuals and take them out for 20 hours before they can even think about driving a bus.”
All school bus drivers need a Class 2 licence with an S endorsement.
“We have trainers who take the people through it and help them get ready for it, but in the end they have to go through the test with the province. We are not certified to give the exam. We do the training and then they have to pass all the provincial requirements,” he said.
Brandt, who is a former high school principal in Delburne and a former school bus driver, says driving a school bus can be rewarding in several ways.
“For the right people it fits really well,” he said. “If you have a position or a job or a profession where you have that flexibility, I think it is an excellent way to be a part of what is going on and be with kids.
“That's the biggest thing the drivers get out of it, those relationships that they build with the students and the families of the students and their fellow bus drivers. We are a big team.”
Anyone interested in joining the Chinook's Edge school bus driver team can contact the division's head office at 1-403-227-7070.
Meanwhile, buses for the division's routes are currently being serviced in rotation at the bus barn garage in Olds, all in preparation for the winter season.
“There is a continual rotation twice a year when the buses go in order to be certified, so the mechanics are always going through them to make sure everything is ready,” Brandt.
“Of course we are not sure what to expect as we come into this winter. Last year was a tough one with lots of snow, so we had a lot of down days with schools. We want to make sure the buses are running properly.”
Shop foreman Jeff Neufeld explained that all Chinook's Edge buses are on regularly-scheduled maintenance programs.
“Every six months we have to bring in the buses for major inspections, but other than that they are on a service schedule rotation. They come in every 5,200 kilometres for servicing,” he said.
The buses run all season tires so there is no need to change out summer and winter tires, he said.
The division relies heavily on Mountain View and Red Deer county road crews to keep the roadways cleared and open through the winter season, said Brandt.
“We rely on them to get us through and they will do the best they can, as they always do,” said Brandt.
The division has a policy that when the ambient temperature reaches -35 C, the buses don't operate, he said.
“That's our threshold where we don't run the buses,” he said.
Like residents across the region, Chinook's Edge students, teachers and staff are probably hoping that that winter threshold isn't reach any time soon.
"We have enough to cover our needs right now, but we are short on spare drivers." Dieter Brandt
