Safety concerns pull buses from 22 N.L. schools

Students at more than 20 schools on the northeast Avalon will be forced to find alternative transportation Thursday, as Newfoundland and Labrador's English School District has suspended the operations of a large busing contractor.

Garrett Barry · CBC News · Posted: Jan 18, 2017 5:39 PM EST | Last Updated: January 19, 2017

Students at more than 20 schools on the northeast Avalon will be forced to find alternative transportation Thursday. (CBC)

About 3,500 students on the northeast Avalon will be forced to find alternative transportation Thursday, after Newfoundland and Labrador's English School District suspended the operations of a large busing contractor.

Citing safety concerns, the NLESD has suspended the operations of Kelloway Investments, which services a number routes at 22 schools in the St. John's area.

All regular routes at Cape St. Francis Elementary, Holy Trinity Elementary, Macdonald Drive Elementary, Holy Trinity High School, Rennies River Elementary, St Francis of Assisi and St. John Bosco are affected.

The company's alternate transportation services at several schools have also been suspended.

About 3,500 students are affected by the school bus suspensions in the St. John's area tomorrow, according to the <a href="https://twitter.com/NLESDCA">@NLESDCA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nltraffic?src=hash">#nltraffic</a>
—@GarrettBarry

Terry Hall, assistant director for education at the NLESD, said Wednesday night the district was left with no choice but to take action.

Hall said there were a number of growing issues with the contractor.

He said some of the contractor's buses had failed inspections, and Kelloway was not properly warning the district of numerous delays — which meant students were sometimes left out in the cold, not knowing their bus was late.

He noted the suspension would be a disruption to thousands of families, but the district had to "make a decision based on student safety, first and foremost."

"At this time, it wasn't worth the risk for us to wait to see tomorrow morning if there was going to be children stranded on the side of the road," he said.

Terry Hall said the district has apologized to families of affected students for the disruption.

All of Kelloway Investments's contracts with the district have been suspended. A representative from the company declined an interview Wednesday night.

A contingency plan to provide alternative transportation to students will begin on Jan. 23.

"It does take a couple of days to get other busing in place, and reach out to find the assets and help from other contractors to be able to fill the void," Hall added.

The district says all affected families are being contacted.

A full list of affected bus routes is below.

Suspended routes

Brother Rice Junior High: 16-052-1A
Cape St. Francis Elementary: All routes
Gonzaga High School: 16-068-1B; 16-068-2B; 16-068-3; 16-068-4; 16-068-5; 16-068-6; 16-068-7B; and 16-068-8B
Holy Trinity Elementary: All routes
Holy Trinity High School: All routes
Macdonald Drive Elementary: All routes
Macdonald Drive Junior High: 16-069-1A; 16-069-2A; 16-069-3A; 16-069-4A; 16-069-5A; and 16-069-6A
Newtown Elementary: 16-066-3; 16-066-4; and 16-066-5
O'Donel High School: 16-066-1A
Rennies River Elementary: All routes
St. Francis of Assisi: All routes
St. John Bosco: All routes
St. Peter's Primary: 15-066-1B; and 16-066-2
St. Theresa's School: 16-052-1B; and 16-052-2