Staying on point while shutting out extraneous noise is a challenge at the best of times. But when you’re tasked with hiring 101 school bus drivers by the start of the new school year, the stress associated with a ticking clock ramps up things considerably.
That’s the position Daniela Cerqua finds herself in.
As a regional manager with Toronto-based Wheelchair Accessible Transit (W.A.T.), Cerqua is hard at it, singing the praises of the 21-year-old student transportation company while rebuffing accusations that because W.A.T. is not locally based, it won’t hire local drivers to fill the routes.
On June 27, Student Transportation Services of Ontario (STSCO), which is responsible for planning school bus routes for the local school boards, announced that a lengthy request for proposal (RFP) process for the provision of student transportation was complete. That process saw school bus operators submit bids to secure all, or some, of the existing bus routes.
Among those companies that put in a bid was Lakefield-based Hamilton Bus Lines, owned by Attridge Transportation Inc., which was operating 87 bus routes for STSCO. According to STSCO, “Hamilton Bus Lines was not successful as part of the procurement and bidding process,” effectively putting the company’s bus drivers out of work.
W.A.T. also put in a bid and was ultimately awarded a 10-year contract by STSCO, including some of the routes previously operated by Hamilton Bus Lines.
Since then, an online petition in support of affected Hamilton Bus Lines drivers has drawn a huge response, with upset drivers and their supporters criticizing STSCO’s bidding process as well as lamenting the awarding of a portion of its bus route contract to a company that is headquartered outside of the region.
That’s the extraneous noise that Cerqua is dealing with as she works to establish W.A.T.’s local footprint — a process best exemplified by the opening of an office at 41 Bridge Street in Lakefield. As of this writing, drivers for 26 of the 101 W.A.T bus routes available have signed on — some of them formerly with Hamilton Bus Lines.
“To hire 100 drivers in two months, especially the summer months when they want to spend time with their family or are on vacation, is difficult,” says Cerqua, adding “We put together some flyers and handed them out, and we put together an information session.”
The information session, held June 3 at the Holiday Inn, saw a “pretty good turnout,” says Cerqua.
“Quite a few people attended; the bulk of them, it seemed, from Hamilton (Bus Lines). They had a lot of great questions and we answered them. Some weren’t happy with the change. I understand that and I empathize with them but, like I said then, our goal is to ensure that children are transported to and from school safely and on time.”
Of the 101 routes secured by W.A.T., just 30 came from Hamilton Bus Lines, clarifies Cerqua, while 55 came from Student Transportation Services, 15 from Century Transportation, and one from First Student.
“We’ve tried to put out there, as much as we could, what routes we have so drivers aren’t caught up in ‘I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where to go,'” says Cerqua, noting W.A.T’s goal is to fill each route with a local driver, whether it’s someone who lost his or her job as a result of their company’s contract not being renewed or someone who is interested in driving a school bus for the first time, for whom W.A.T will provide training.
“We put out information that if drivers want to follow their (former) route, they’re more than welcome. Just come and see us. There’s also monitors on the routes that made friends with school bus drivers. We have said ‘Great, we’ll take you too.’ We’re trying to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
Of note, W.A.T. is committing to providing incentives drivers have received in the past.
“We will pay drivers for all P.A. days and they will get paid for snow days but, in addition, we’ll also pay the two weeks that drivers are off at Christmas time and the one week that drivers are off during the March break.”
Cerqua says if W.A.T. can’t secure enough local drivers for its routes, it will “look at other areas we serve for drivers and bring them here to ensure kids get to and from school, but that’s definitely not my first choice.”
“We have our office in Lakefield with staff hired locally. We’ll be putting together some job fairs, some community barbecues, to let people know we’re here and we’re hiring. If parents want to come and meet us and find out who their child’s school bus provider is going to be, they’re more than welcome too. We’d love to meet them and let them know that they’re in good hands.”
As for displaced Hamilton Bus Lines drivers who want to learn more about W.A.T. and what it’s offering, Cerqua says they too are invited to drop by the office.
“Many of them have my email and my phone number, and they also have my HR department’s information,” she notes.
Looking ahead to September, Cerqua is “confident” W.A.T. “will have a driver in every seat.”
As for W.A.T being portrayed as the bad guy in the wake of Hamilton Bus Lines losing its contract with STSCO, Cerqua says she can only do what she can do: work to ensure all 101 newly secured W.A.T. routes have a driver.
“That’s why we made a point of having the information session, so people could get their questions answered. At the end of the day, there’s no pressure, there’s no poaching. We’re opening our doors and putting our cards on the table and saying ‘This is what we have. This is what we can offer you.’ If it works for you, great, we’d love for you to join our team. If it’s not something that works for you, that’s okay too, but we will continue to push hard to hire locally.”
For more information on Wheelchair Accessible Transit, visit www.wheelchairtransit.com.
