About a dozen families in the Whangārei Intermediate School community were impacted by the cancellation of the bus run on Wednesday afternoon.
About a dozen families in the Whangārei Intermediate School community were impacted by the cancellation of the bus run on Wednesday afternoon.
A school bus operator in Northland has been looking for drivers since March and not one person has applied for the role yet.
The acute driver shortage nationwide has affected education in the region, with schools forced to find alternative modes of transportation for students at the eleventh hour.
Driver unavailability meant three school bus services operated by Ritchies Transport were canned on Wednesday afternoon just three hours before the bus was scheduled to run.
The areas impacted were Otaika Valley, Maungatapere and Waipū.
Whangārei Intermediate School deputy principal Paul Botica said around a dozen families connected to their school were affected by the last-minute bus cancellations.
As soon as the school was informed, students on the bus roll were asked to contact their whānau.
Botica said some parents who worked in town were able to pick up the children, while other students spent extra time in school clubs until transport was arranged.
"It was not a big impact for us, but students living in southern Whangārei had a bit of difficulty."
According to Botica, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and bus providers previously warned schools - most recently at the start of the year - about the high possibility driver shortages may mean cancellations.
He said there was no local MoE bus co-ordinator working specifically for the region, which added to the problem.
"Prior to Covid-19, we had a dedicated person appointed by the Ministry of Education to look after bus runs but that position has now gone."
Currently, there is one MoE-appointed regional transport adviser to cover Northland as well as north and west Auckland.
Botica said bus companies desperately need people out there who could be relief drivers.
Since the beginning of term two this year, there have been 12 occasions when a school bus service in Northland has not run. Photo / Supplied
But Leabourn Passenger Services owner Leydon Leabourn said finding school bus drivers, especially in Whangārei, was "extremely" difficult.
"We have been putting ads in newspapers, promoting the job online and on social media, but haven't received a single inquiry since March."
Leabourn had managed the Covid-19 situation for now without cancelling any runs thus far.
"We will just keep going, plug the hole as best we can. It is easier to find drivers in some areas where you have some contacts and you can shuffle drivers around.
"Covid-19 is still around and we lose one or two drivers every week as they test positive."
Leabourn feared the Ministry of Education may not know the extremity of the situation in Northland as they had not engaged with the service provider so far.
Bream Bay College principal Wayne Buckland said the Bream Bay community - which includes Bream Bay College, Ruakaka School and One Tree Point School – relied on Ritchies Bus services but also had their own plans in place to make sure they had drivers doing the run.
Manaia View School principal Leanne Otene said so far this term there had only been one day the bus didn't arrive due to the lack of a driver.
On 12 occasions since term two began a school bus service in Northland has not run - four of which were in Whangārei.
MoE group manager school transport James Meffan said the cancellations represented 0.13 per cent of the total services in Northland in term two.
"Like many transport and other services, ministry-funded bus services are susceptible to disruption from staff unavailability.
"We appreciate all the efforts that our transport service providers go to in order to avoid cancelling any school bus services."
Meffan said the ministry was informed of a school bus cancellation within an hour of the transport service provider becoming aware they had to cancel a service.
Ritchies Transport Northland Area manager Tony Manga denied to comment, other than saying it was Covid-19-related, but said if people wanted to know about the disruptions in the bus services they should contact him directly. His details can be found on the Ritchies website.
