Yellowknife has once again lost a school bus route. First Transit said on Friday that route seven will not run from Monday onward because of a lack of drivers.
The announcement continues a pattern in recent months of service being gradually eroded as the company, which operates buses on behalf of all Yellowknife schools, loses staff.
In a tweet, First Transit’s Yellowknife branch wrote: “Due to recent staff shortages, Bus 7 will not be running starting on Monday, March 27th. We apologize for the short notice and will provide updates as the situation changes.”
In January, Yellowknife lost three school bus drivers in three weeks, closing down routes nine, 10 and 12. The company subsequently merged routes nine and 13. Routes seven, 10 and 12 remain out of service.
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“YK1 understands that continued disruptions to student busing services in Yellowknife are impacting many of our families,” the YK1 school district wrote on its website.
YK1 said First Transit had announced “there is no additional space on other routes to accommodate families affected by this disruption.”
Nationally, First Transit was recently taken over by rival operator Transdev. What that merger will mean for the company’s Yellowknife operations is not yet clear.
Yellowknife’s school districts have maintained that they and First Transit are “working together until short-term and long-term solutions are found.”
