The Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) took some time during their latest meeting to discuss school buses in the southeast and how they can meet transportation needs. At the meeting, the division saw Jesse Forsyth, the west area transportation foreman, give some of the details and data around school buses for the division.
Forsyth laid out that the SECPSD has seen a slight increase this year to 4,680 compared with the 4,593 that were riding the buses in June of 2024. The figure covers around 55 to 60 per cent of the division’s approximately 8,100 students.
2025 saw a pair of new urban routes being added to their duties, in Estevan and Weyburn, for a total of 157 routes needing to be serviced heading into next year.
Two more urban routes had been added to the fleet, one each in Estevan and Weyburn, making the total 157 heading into the next academic year.
The division still has some unfilled routes due to their current lack of drivers, with two routes in the Carlyle area, and one each serving Arcola, Oungre (Lyndale School) and Redvers needing to be staffed. Forsyth noted that the number and location of routes needing to be filled have changed over the last year.
Some temporary cancellations due to mechanical issues were also tracked, with Forsyth reporting 89 half-days, significantly more than what the division usually sees.
Lacking a substitute driver resulted in the loss of 173 half-day routes and 692 full days, according to Forsyth. These numbers were up from the 114 and 558 days noted in the first half of the school year.
The average rural one-way ride time remained around 48 minutes, with the longest one-way rural rides being targeted as around 90 minutes on the Estevan/Torquay and the Weyburn/Oungre routes.
Forsyth diagnosed the main issue with the bus system to be a lack of drivers in most areas.
He noted that since the last report, there had been one bus driver retirement, one termination, and no resignations or new hires.