Saskatoon school buses see a year-over-year increase of 547 more riders

Saskatoon school buses are getting fuller by the year.

The city's two major school divisions recorded a combined increase of 547 students taking the bus, with Saskatoon public seeing student riders jump by 432 and Saskatoon Catholic seeing a jump of 115.

Joel Lloyd, chief financial officer with Saskatoon Catholic, said the school division is currently facing a transportation shortfall of $1.5 million. That's expected to decrease to $1.3 million next year.

Kevin Pasiechnik, whose two daughters will be busing from Martensville to Saskatoon for school at Bishop Filevich, said the shortfall has him, "greatly concerned."

He said the bus is a chance for his kids to work on homework or socialize. Pasiechnik said he hopes the government provides additional funding to address the transportation shortfall.

"My greater concern would be that ... if funding doesn't exist that the service would be removed," he said. 

There are no plans to change the current bus system, but Lloyd said additional money from the province would be beneficial. 

Lloyd said money from the province for buses would allow the school division to spend cash on things like instructional resources and staffing. It would also use the money to get some of the longest ride times, which hover around 86 minutes for some students travelling into the city from surrounding communities, closer to 60 minutes.

In 2017, both school divisions announced they would be increasing the distance children had to live from school to be eligible for busing to 1.2 kilometres from 0.8 km.

Chantel Serack, whose daughters attend Saskatoon Public's Ecole Victoria, said some parents she's spoken with are worried Saskatoon school buses may eventually be parked for good.

"We hear that a lot," she said of the worry. "That there's potential the bus system will be lost entirely or will shrink and be further and further out."

Shane Skjerven, Saskatoon Public Schools' deputy director of education, said the school division has no plans to stop bus service in the city, but said transportation is one of the many sections official examine when working on budgets.

Saskatoon Public Schools recorded a $750,000 surplus in transportation funding from the province this year. It will be used elsewhere within the division on things like supports for learning.

He said growth in Saskatoon is likely what's behind the increase in student riders, as communities like Stonebridge and Evergreen are growing and families in communities like Brighton and Kensington, where there isn't a school currently, having to bus elsewhere in the city.

A statement from the Government of Saskatchewan said both of Saskatoon's school divisions will receive a 3.6 per cent increase in transportation funding from the province in the 2019-20 budget cycle, amounting to a combined total of $14.5 million.