Feature story by Hannah Lawson & Joseph Quigley
When Cherisse Bigelow found out the bus her son rode home from Grassland School lost its wheel after dropping him off March 21, she was shocked.
“I couldn’t believe this happened,” Bigelow said in an interview. “The buses that they’re running are really not suitable to be driving. It makes me scared actually to send my son on the bus.”
The breakdown happened in the Grassland area while the bus was transporting children after school, according to Aspen View Public Schools communications officer Ross Hunter. Two students were on the bus at the time, and no one was injured. First Student Canada, which runs half of the division’s bus routes, operated the vehicle.
Bigelow said this breakdown is one in a string of incidents involving the bus contractor First Student. She said that this school year, she has had to pick up her son due to issues with buses at least a half-dozen times, and she is “fed up.”
And she is not the only one with concerns.
Two former drivers have also stepped forward with complaints about First Student, one going so far as to send an email to Aspen View last July outlining her concerns.
Amidst these amassing complaints and incidents, representatives from First Student and Aspen View have stated they take each one “very seriously.”
“We certainly take any incident regarding student transportation very seriously,” Hunter said in an interview. “And we’d want to thoroughly review and be mindful of the situation.”
“We take any incident very seriously. First Student is twice as safe as the industry average in collisions,” First Student spokesperson Jay Brock wrote in an email.
But what exactly is an incident, and what makes it up the chain and onto the record?
Hunter said there is no wording within contracts between Aspen View and bus contractors that specify what sort of incidents are investigated, but it is on a “case-by-case basis.”
Meanwhile, an Alberta Transportation representative said the province defines “serious” as any incident that results in any degree of injury or fatality, and Alberta’s Carrier Services does not notify a school division for every investigation, collision or failed investigation, instead assessing the nature of the incident and risk before determining whether notification is necessary.
Carrier profile
According to the provincial carrier profile for 2013-2018 for First Student ULC – First Student Canada’s name on the record – the company has a current provincial safety fitness score of “excellent.”
Carrier profiles are report cards showing compliance to on-road and administrative requirements.
The company scored an R-factor of 0.092, compared to the industry average of 0.136, according to First Student’s profile in Alberta, which was provided to the Advocate by Alberta Transportation’s Carrier Services.
According to an Alberta information sheet on Carrier Profiles, lower R-factors are considered better and the carrier is less likely to have a collision. They take into account convictions, CVSA failure rate and collision event data over the past 12 months.
First Student has more than tripled its fleet size across the province, from 577 in January 2013 to 2,063 in March 2018.
Within the five-year period, First Student never appeared on the Alberta government’s monitoring list.
According to the FirstGroup website – First Student’s parent company – they are the “largest provider of student transportation in North America.”
On the road
March 7 crash
On the foggy morning of March 7, Thorhild School student Maisie Watkinson was killed in a collision between a First Student bus and a gravel truck. The bus was transporting students to Thorhild School.
According to a March 13 Department of Transportation Carrier Services investigation report, after opening the passenger door and driver window to listen for traffic – a strategy used when conditions are foggy – the driver proceeded to turn left onto Opal Road from Township Road 594. The bus was then struck in the rear passenger side by a gravel truck. Thorhild School student Maisie Watkinson was declared deceased on scene.
Redwater RCMP are investigating the crash, and a collision analyst was also brought in to examine the scene, RCMP Eastern Alberta District media relations officer Cpl. Ronald Bumbry said in an April 5 interview.
No findings have been released, nor have any charges been laid. Bumbry said an update would be provided if charges are laid.
Brock said as the investigation is ongoing, First Student is “fully co-operating” with RCMP and the school division.
He also provided a letter from Alberta Transportation’s Carrier Services department detailing its investigation. The provincial body concluded there was “no evidence of noncompliance” to provincial transportation legislation, or the National Safety Code.
Aspen View superintendent Mark Francis said in addition to the RCMP investigation into the Thorhild crash, Occupational Health and Safety is also investigating the incident.
March 21 and 22 incidents
First Student Canada has also launched a “full investigation” into the March 21 incident of the bus wheel falling off, Brock said.
The morning after the wheel fell off the bus while it was moving, the exhaust hanger of a bus on the same route snapped, Hunter confirmed, and students had to be transferred to a different bus.
Hunter said the bus was travelling on Highway 55 when it hit a “frost heave or pot hole,” and the exhaust hanger released.
Brock said in an email “as road conditions are an uncontrollable factor, that may have been the cause” of the exhaust hanger releasing.
“Our driver pulled off the road immediately and safely to report the problem to our dispatcher,” Brock wrote.
April 18 overheating
On April 18, a First Student bus taking Grassland School students back from a field trip overheated. Hunter said the division’s understanding is the bus had a winter front grill cover that was not removed, because today was the “first day above zero.”
When the bus overheated, Hunter said the driver contacted First Student who dispatched a mechanic to put fluids back in to “cool it back down” while students waited nearby. He said the bus was not low on fluids.
The bus was being chartered by Grassland School and was not on a route, Hunter said. However, the bus is normally used on a route and he said affected families were notified the bus would be late departing that afternoon.
Bus driver allegations
Since 1998, Aspen View has contracted out bus services.
It currently contracts 18 companies for its 62 bus routes from Smith to Smoky Lake. First Student runs 31 of them.
Last July, a former bus driver for First Student in Athabasca forwarded an email to AVPS transportation co-ordinator Rhonda Alix.
The driver, Sarah Miles,* outlined incidents with First Student and wrote that a manager told her it was safe to drive a bus with leaking rear calipers. Miles provided the email to the Advocate.
The Advocate agreed not to use Miles’ real name, as the former driver was concerned with possible retribution.
When asked how First Student responds to the allegation the company would ask a driver to drive a bus that would not pass a safety inspection, Brock wrote the Department of Transportation performs regular inspections on the company’s fleet.
“For each bus, First Student conducts pre and post trip inspections and follows a rigorous preventative maintenance schedule,” he wrote.
When asked how the division handled the email complaint against First Student, Francis said in an interview that if concerns are brought forward the division investigates them “to the fullest of (its) ability.”
“At the end of the day, if somebody reports something’s wrong with a bus, we need to see the inspection report. We need to see the follow-up report that says that was corrected,” he said. Despite being asked three times what actions were taken on Miles’ email, Francis did not say specifically how her concerns were addressed.
When asked how First Student responded to Miles’ concerns, Brock said each reported concern is taken very seriously.
“We take each reported concern very seriously, working in partnership with the district and (addressing it) quickly,” he wrote.
When asked how Miles’ email was addressed, Brock did not respond directly, but reiterated that Alberta’s Department of Transportation performs regular inspections on the entire fleet.
For former First Student driver Joanne Thomas,* driving two separate buses with exhaust leaks two days in a row was the last straw in her 10-month stint working for the company.
The Advocate agreed not to use Thomas’ real name, as the former driver was concerned with possible retribution.
Thomas said that on a Sunday afternoon during her employment, she brought her regular bus in for repairs in exchange for a bus that was low on engine coolant and oil.
While on route the next morning, Thomas said the engine began overheating and the “exhaust was really bad inside the bus.” After her route, she drove back to the shop with her windows open and picked up her original bus.
According to Alberta Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulations, exhaust inside the cab of a vehicle is considered a “major defect,” and the vehicle should not be driven, even without passengers.
The next day, while driving her original bus that had just been in the shop, Thomas said she could smell exhaust again. Upon checking, she said the tail pipe was busted.
Thomas provided the Advocate with photos of the tail pipe and the text message exchange between her and First Student’s location manager about the incident.
Brock said in a response to this incident the “bus was immediately removed from service and repaired.”
Miles said she transported Aspen View students to and from school with First Student Canada – which has also been known as Cardinal Coach Lines Ltd. – for 14 years.
Miles said she quit because of her concerns with the company.
In the email she sent to AVPS, Miles said problems started to arise in December 2016. Miles summarized in an interview that she felt she was “constantly being given buses that were unsafe.”
Brock responded to this allegation, saying First Student takes “any incident very seriously” and the company is in compliance with the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Program (CVIP).
“All reports and work orders from the CVIP are shared with Aspen View Division school board and are in compliance with Alberta RT regulation (sic)” he wrote.
Driver shortages
Ten years ago, driver shortages were a key issue facing the busing industry in Alberta, according to a 2008 school bus safety report commissioned by the province following two fatal bus collisions.
Now in 2018, the issue remains.
The number of bus routes cancelled this year across AVPS has been “significantly higher” than previous years, Hunter said, which is largely due to driver shortages.
According to Francis, the number of cancellations from driver shortage is one of the trustees’ biggest concerns. The board was presented with a report on the cancellations during their April 12 meeting, which showed that 2.92 per cent of routes have been cancelled so far this year. Hunter said that last year, less than one per cent of routes were cancelled.
Secretary treasurer Amber Oko said during the meeting it has been a troubling year for recruiting and retaining drivers, and the report shows 34.7 per cent of routes were cancelled because of a lack of available drivers.
Despite running only 50 per cent of routes in the school division, First Student was responsible for 95 per cent of total routes cancelled due to driver availability. They were also responsible for 79 per cent of routes cancelled due to “bus availability,” which Oko said is when a bus is broken down and no spares are available.
Hunter said in an email that if a route is cancelled by Aspen View, the contractor or the driver due to inclement weather or hazardous road conditions, Aspen View still pays the contractor at least half of the contracted daily amount.
“If a route does not run for other reasons (no driver, bus won’t start, no spare bus available, etc.), some or all of the daily base rate and per-kilometre rates are withheld,” he added.
Francis noted in an interview that many of the division’s 464 route cancellations were due to inclement weather. The report showed it was 53 per cent, and Hunter said the division had three division-wide cancellations this school year, compared to one last year.
Francis also said requirements for drivers are set out by provincial legislation.
“If those are met, then that person’s eligible to drive,” Francis said.
Hunter said Aspen View has been working with the contractors, specifically First Student, to assist them in recruitment.
Thomas said from her perspective, part of the issue is drivers are “not getting paid for what (they are) doing,” and pay works out to “just minimum wage.”
During her period of employment, Thomas said she was paid $20.40/hour for routes, $12.20/hour for any other driving needs and $16.40/hour for charters. She said she was paid for two eight-minute inspections of her bus daily – no longer – and was not paid for time spent fueling up, cleaning the vehicle or topping up fluids.
“You’re a professional driver, and you’re transporting children,” Thomas said.
When asked to confirm how much First Student pays its drivers, Brock said pay is set out in accordance to their collective bargaining agreement through the Teamsters Union.
Hunter said the division negotiates with contractors annually to set out daily base rate, per kilometre rate and fuel contingency. Aspen View does not pay drivers directly, as agreements are made with the contractor company.
Oko said during the board meeting the issue of route cancellations will “definitely be discussed” in forthcoming negotiations with contractors.
Alberta Transportation assistant director of communications Bob McManus said in an email the Alberta government accepted a number of recommendations following the 2008 report on school bus safety, including hiring of drivers.
“A shortage of drivers has been one of the key challenges facing the school bus industry,” Alberta Transportation’s School Bus Project reads. “The combination of an active job market and traditionally low hourly wages has resulted in hiring difficulties and high turnover rates.”
Alleged lack of training
Thomas said “most” of what she learned came from being on the job and from colleagues.
“I didn’t feel adequately trained in a lot of ways,” she said, adding training is conducted by First Student.
While Thomas said she did receive simulated training in parking lots on maneuvering and practice pick-ups, she added she was never sent out with an experienced driver for on-route training.
“When you’re just taking training to manoeuvre a bus in a parking lot, it’s not the same as being on an actual route with actual potential hazards,” she said.
Brock said in an email all drivers get 50 hours of training, both in the classroom and on road, before being put behind the wheel. He added “all drivers receive up to four days of on-the-route and ride-along training.”
When asked whether on-route training is mandatory, Brock stated it “is included in the 50 hours of driver training.”
Thomas also said she was not trained in the Department of Transportation’s Schedule 2, a schedule of maintenance items school bus operators are required to inspect during daily vehicle checks.
The Schedule 2 details what is considered a minor or major defect in the school bus. Under Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulations, a carrier must not permit its drivers, and drivers should not drive, unless daily trip inspections have been carried out and no “major defects” are detected.
“In my training, they didn’t train us to know what was OK to drive and what wasn’t OK to drive. You just kind of take your cue from the manager,” she said.
Brock said all drivers hired by First Student are “trained and required to complete their daily paperwork.”
“This enables drivers to properly document and report a possible defect with their bus, complying to the DOT’s (Department of Transportation’s) Schedule 2,” he wrote. “This is in addition to our preventative maintenance schedule.”
McManus said charges brought forward from failed Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspections could be laid against the carrier company or the driver, depending on the circumstances.
“If the officer found that the vehicle had many defects that appeared to be a result of a lack of maintenance and the driver was noting these defects in their trip inspection report then it may be more appropriate to charge the company instead (of the driver),” McManus wrote.
Incident response
In an email, Hunter said “generally speaking” after incidents – depending on the scope – contractors would advise Aspen View’s transportation department and an investigation would be conducted. He said Aspen View may direct the contractor to take measures to come into compliance with the division’s Contract Bus Driver’s Responsibilities administrative procedure.
The school division requires contractors to provide it with all completed inspection reports, Hunter added.
In an interview, Hunter said there is no wording within contracts between Aspen View and carriers that specify what sort of incidents are investigated, but it is on a “case-by-case basis.”
Instead, Hunter said contracts talk about following AVPS administrative procedures. He pointed to the Contract Bus Driver’s Responsibilities procedures, which requires drivers to do pre-trip inspections, maintain log books and report “hazardous conditions or situations.”
“In terms of why it’s not written down anywhere, because there’s so many variables involved,” he said. “Essentially, what happens it becomes a case-by-case thing.”
When asked to see a copy of AVPS’ contract with First Student, Hunter said he would not release the full text due to “legal implications.”
Aspen View board chair Dennis MacNeil said in an interview that a formal review is underway at the division level. He said along with safety and cancellation issues, the lack of communication prompted the board to do the review.
“I mean communication from the bus drivers to their administration and their administration to ours, and so on,” he said. “There is a protocol that needs to be followed, and I’m not going to comment on that at this point.”
McManus said the Ministry of Education is notified by the Department of Transportation whenever “serious accident(s) or violation(s)” occur that involve school buses. He defined “serious” as any incident that results in any degree of injury or fatality.
“Representatives from both departments meet regularly to discuss school bus safety concerns and current enforcement practices,” he wrote.
However, Alberta’s Carrier Services does not notify the school division for every investigation, collision or failed investigation, McManus said. They assess the nature of the incident and risk before determining whether notification is necessary.
McManus said Alberta Education and school divisions are automatically notified if a carrier’s safety fitness certificate or operating authority is being suspended.
Policy review and legal consult
In response to the Thorhild bus collision, AVPS trustees voted during their March 15 meeting have a third-party review of the division’s transportation procedures conducted.
Francis said during the meeting if it were not for the “recent tragic event,” administration would conduct the review.
“But because of the recent event, I think it would be best to have a third party come in with a set of eyes from outside,” he said.
The review would look at items such as how Aspen View plans its routes and how its inclement weather policy compares to other school divisions, Francis said.
“The review we’re conducting is around how are we in comparison to everyone else, so we can prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again,” Francis said in an interview.
For instance, AVPS’ current inclement weather procedure says no school buses will operate on days when the temperate drops to or below -40 C.
The school division’s 2017 Bus Driver Satisfaction Survey asked whether drivers think the -40 C is an appropriate guideline, to which 50 per cent of respondents said “no,” and 21.4 per cent said “yes, very.”
Thomas said if drivers do not feel it is safe to drive and decide to cancel their route, “you don’t get paid.” She alleged this is a pressure on drivers to drive in unsafe conditions.
Hunter said in an email if Aspen View, the driver or contractor decides to cancel routes due to inclement weather or hazardous road conditions, the contractor is still paid “at least half of the contracted amount.”
Brock said drivers are paid the full amount for routes cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
Hunter also said that at their April 26 meeting, Aspen View’s board passed a unanimous motion to seek legal counsel regarding transportation operations.
“Due to a growing number of concerns expressed regarding student transportation, the Board of Trustees directs administration to consult with legal counsel to review current transportation operations against existing contracts, specifically in regard to provisions to ensure safe and reliable delivery of transportation services,” the motion reads.
Board chair Dennis MacNeil said in an interview after the meeting that the board does have concerns around safety of school buses.
He added the includes looking at contracts – existing contracts and the provisions within those contracts – especially as they relate to safety and reliable pickup and drop-off services.
“There’s a growing number of concerns,” he said. “There’s the safety issues, lots of issues around bus cancellations and bus safety ... The bottom line is the number of phone calls we get from parents, the concerns we had, it was time to take a look at it because there were some major concerns there.”
MacNeil said the review should be available by the next board meeting, which is set for May 10.
Ministry response
The Department of Transportation has not been alerted of any issues with the Athabasca location of First Student that would result in a change of the inspection process, McManus said.
He said in an email “no concerns or complaints about (First Student) have been brought to Alberta’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Branch to make the branch change its inspection process or frequency.”
When asked what sort of safety nets at a provincial level ensure bus carriers are doing their due diligence in terms of safety, McManus said school buses are inspected every six months. If a vehicle fails, it will not be allowed back into service until satisfactory repairs are made.
Report on bus safety, after 2007 bus crash
In 2008, the Alberta government instituted a series of recommendations about bus safety after two fatal school bus collisions.
In 2007, nine-year-old Calgary student Kathelynn Occena died from injuries after her school bus struck a broken-down dump truck, according to an Oct. 23, 2007 Edmonton Journal article.
Almost exactly 10 years ago, in a crash reminiscent of the fatal Thorhild collision March 7, Jennifer Noble was killed in Rimbey when her school bus was struck by a gravel truck in foggy conditions on April 19, 2008, according to a Sept. 8, 2008 Barrhead Leader article.
The province released a report titled Ensuring the Safety of Our Children in October 2008. It detailed 10 recommendations for enhanced safety, and states it was prompted by public discussion after the two tragic collisions.
The recommendations included making strobe and amber lights on buses mandatory, working with industry to standardize hiring practices, enhanced training and development of a standard route risk assessment checklist.
Francis said after the 2008 provincial review on school buses, Aspen View Public Schools also paid to have air foil and LED lights installed on all of its buses.
Francis said in an interview that the school division would follow any recommendations that come from both government transportation reports and investigations into the Thorhild bus crash.
“If there’s recommendations that come out of a (Transport Canada) report or Alberta Transportation, if the question is would we follow those recommendations, – of course we would,” he said.
• The Advocate agreed not to us Miles’ or Thomas’ real names, as the former drivers were concerned with possible retribution.
• The First Student Athabasca location did not respond to multiple requests for comment over a two-week period, which included six phone calls and voice messages.
• After First Student spokesperson Jay Brock responded to a list of questions emailed to First Group communications April 6, a request for follow up was provided via email April 20 after four emails and four phone calls.
• The Advocate sent four telephone and two email requests to the Student Transportation Association of Alberta. There were no responses from anyone who would speak on the record about this issue. Executive director Dianne Harkness said she would not speak to the media, and no response was received from association president Lisa Weder.
