First Student “actively recruiting” to solve bus driver shortage in Scugog, Uxbridge and Brooklin

A bus driver shortage that has caused numerous school route cancellations in north Durham this week is part of a “nation-wide” problem but is being addressed, said a spokesperson for school bus operator First Student Brooklin.

“A nationwide need for school bus drivers is affecting nearly all school districts,” said Jay Brock, who explained the company has had to adjust routes daily depending on staffing levels. “We continue to actively recruit, hire and train new drivers. Our applicant flow is steady, and we do have a number of candidates in various stages of training (and) we hope to add them to our workforce in the coming weeks.”

A dozen school bus routes affecting both the public and Catholic school boards in Uxbridge, Brooklin and Port Perry were cancelled today and on Tuesday due to driver shortages.

All 12 routes affected use First Student Brooklin as the operator.

Brock said increasing their pool of drivers would help provide more flexibility to manage day-to-day operations and encouraged those who are “interested in serving the community” to apply at workatfirst.com.