Ministers Correct Opposition Critic’s Busing Information

The Honourable Nick McGrath, Minister of Service NL, and the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education, today responded to inaccurate and misleading information issued in a news release by the Opposition Education Critic regarding timelines for private school bus contractors to comply with D250 safety standards, and the age of the province’s school bus fleet.

"This government has been working with school bus operators for nearly two years on the implementation of the D250 standard," said Minister McGrath. "These standards are in place in most jurisdictions in Canada and we feel that our January 1, 2013 deadline has provided adequate time for operators to comply, to ensure the safety of students."

School buses are required to meet the Canadian Standards Association D250 standards which represent the best practice in bus safety in Canada. The standard focuses on a variety of areas including the requirement for crossing arms, reflective tape, emergency front door releases and heated mirrors.

Meanwhile, Minister Jackman noted that in 2003, government made a commitment to upgrade the school bus fleet with a goal of reducing the number of buses that are more than 10 years old.

“We have spent $16.6 million on 240 new buses since that time, and have made other changes to reduce the age of both board-owned and contracted buses,” said Minister Jackman. “The result is that the average age of all school buses in the province is 8.7 years – down from 10.3 years in 2004. In the board-owned system alone, the average age is 7.1 years. The Opposition Critic should know this. I wrote to him just last month providing information about the age of school buses which he then proceeded to completely misrepresent in an earlier public statement.”

Minister Jackman also clarified that in 2003, the maximum age of school buses was 14 years. In 2005, that was reduced to the current maximum of 12 years. Incorrect information was quoted in the Opposition Critic’s most recent news release.

“The simple fact is that there were 874 registered school buses over the age of 10 years in 2004. We committed to reducing that number. Today there are 400 – less than half,” Minister Jackman said. “We anticipate that number will continue to decline as our school bus fleet renewal efforts continue. Meanwhile, our investments in busing; our changes to policy over the years, and the most recent call for proposals for an independent evaluation of our school transportation system are all designed to improve the safety and efficiency of this $48 million service. It is not connected to the deadline for private operators to comply with updated safety standards – a deadline which they have known about for more than two years, and which has been extended twice.”

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2012 11 22             4:10 p.m.