Extra Halifax school buses won't start to roll until end of October

Although the Nova Scotia government has come up with the $1.9 million necessary for Stock Transportation to add 37 buses to its fleet, getting those buses on the road will take weeks, according to the company's chief operating officer.

"We need to make sure we have the right people, we need to make sure we train them properly, we need to make sure we acquire the buses, so we do know for sure that by the end of October we will start the implementation, but it will be staggered," said Terri Lowe, adding that the process will likely extend into December.

"We're hoping to have it done this year but we still need a bit of time to work through how long it's going to take us," she said.

The extra buses are needed to deal with the more the 6,400 requests for courtesy stops — 2,000 more than normal.

Existing provincial policy states that elementary school students who live closer than 2.4 kilometres from school and high school students whose homes are located less than 3.6 kilometres away are supposed to make alternate arrangements.

Education Minister Zack Churchill told reporters Thursday a bigger bus fleet is needed while that policy is being reviewed.

"We obviously want parents and students to have access to the services that they believe are important to get their kids to and from school."