Renfrew County school buses remain off the roads as negotiations continue [Video]

The Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC) and the county’s school bus operators are in active negotiations Wednesday, as school buses remain off the roads a month into the new school year.

Over 10,000 elementary and secondary school students in Renfrew County have been without school bus transportation this semester as the contract between the bus operators and the RCJTC expired.

Bus operators have said their costs have increased between 30 and 70 per cent since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but the RCJTC says it cannot offer more than the 12 per cent increase it put on the table without the school boards needing to make cuts elsewhere.

The RCJTC says any increase to the offer would have to come from funds already dedicated to student programming.

There have been escalating calls from parents and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation for the provincial government to become more active in …