Peel school bus consortium warning of cancelled bus routes due to Omicron

Some students returning to class in Peel Region will likely have more than just the weather to contend with on Monday.

The Student Transportation of Peel Region (STOPR), which is responsible for carrying almost 68,000 students in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, is warning that a number of routes will be cancelled due to a lack of bus drivers who are calling in sick due to the Omicron variant.

“Parents, students, and school communities need to be aware that it may be necessary to cancel bus runs on a temporary basis if we experience high rates of driver absenteeism,” read a statement issued by STOPR.

By Sunday evening, the organization had listed more than 20 cancellations affecting 10 separate schools – all due to COVID – on its website.

“Please note that if a bus route is temporarily cancelled due to COVID, it will be cancelled for approximately 5 to 10 days.”

STOPR is reminding parents and students to check both morning and afternoon transportation schedules as students who travel to school in the morning on one bus route, may travel home in the afternoon on a different route due to last minute changes.

“Therefore your transportation may be cancelled in the morning but still is running in the afternoon or vice versa,” reads the statement.

School bus delays within the Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board can be found on the Toronto Student Transportation Group website here.

Students across the province have been doing remote learning since the Ford government pushed back the return date for in-person learning by two weeks.

Under new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education, principals at Ontario schools will only be required to report COVID-19 outbreaks to Public Health Units when absent rates among students and staff hit a 30 per cent threshold. However, the government says parents will have access to data on school outbreaks before they reach that severity.

While public health experts, parents and officials agree that in-school learning is best for children, school boards, families and unions say they’re bracing for an increase in staff absences because of the virus.