With just days to go before students head back to the classroom, Niagara Student Transportation Services is taking final steps to ensure buses, drivers and families are ready to go.
The lead-up led to a busy few months for NSTS, which has retrofitted about 700 school buses with flashing amber lights.
In July, Ontario became the last province to legislate the change, requiring all school buses to have flashing yellow lights in addition to flashing red lights.
The flashing amber lights warn drivers a bus is about to stop when picking up and dropping off students. Once the bus has come to a complete stop, a different set of red lights flash and the stop sign extends from the driver’s side.
While installing the amber lights went smoothly, addressing the shortage of bus drivers has been a much more difficult process. Similar to last year, NSTS has enough drivers for every route, but does not have enough extra drivers to cover all absences. A recruitment drive for more drivers is underway.
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