Sudbury MPP calls on Ford to stop stalling and cap school bus capacity at 50%

QUEEN’S PARK – After the cancellation of dozens of Sudbury school bus routes during the first weeks of school, and after weeks of advocacy, Sudbury NDP MPP Jamie West took local concerns straight to Doug Ford during question period Monday.

“On Labour Day – one day before the first day of school – Sudbury families learned that 25 school bus routes had been cancelled. You can only imagine how angry and upset that students and parents in Sudbury were when they found out – the day before school started,” said West.

West said that the root cause of the cancellations is that school bus drivers do not feel safe with Ford’s flawed back-to-school plan that allows packed schools busses. West cited the Executive Director of Sudbury Student Services who said that some drivers did not come back to work when they found out there would be regular capacity on school buses.

“Will the premier commit today to capping school busses at 50 per cent capacity to better protect students and drivers and prevent the spread of COVID19?”

Early last week NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on Ford to place a cap on school busses at 50 per cent to protect students and drivers. Ford failed to act on the proposal while this week in Sudbury 15 school bus routes were cancelled. That’s in addition to 25 routes cancelled during the first week of school, and 19 the following week.

“The majority of our bus drivers are either vulnerable seniors, or parents with pre-school-aged children. They want to work, but they can’t risk their health – or the health of their families,” said West.

“Bus drivers and parents want to know why COVID-19 best practices, like social distancing, don’t apply to the school busses that transport our children.”