The return of winter weather has had an impact on the roads Friday morning, delaying some school bus routes in the area.
Two routes, buses 540 and 563 serving Holy Cross School, Sandwich Secondary School, Sandwich West Public School, École Louise Charron and Assumption middle and high schools, were cancelled outright but not due to the weather.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, General Manager of Windsor Essex Student Transportation Services Gabrielle McMillan says the cancellations were due to staff shortages.
"They have a driver shortage. And I mean we're very fortunate, we're one of the few areas in the province because everybody's dealing with driver shortages but this is the first time we've had to cancel routes."
McMillan says it's confusing for everybody because this is something they haven't had to do before, and there were several absences today which they were able to cover but these two routes they weren't.
She says they've been extremely fortunate up to this point that they haven't had any cancellations that weren't weather related.
"We've been saying for a couple of years now with driver shortages that it could happen," she continued. "We always encourage families to check our website every day, or if they have the app or if they get the email, to check to make sure their bus is not cancelled."
The time buses that are still running may should up is another new part of the reporting online, and McMillan says it's to keep kids out of the cold while they wait.
"They're being posted to let parents know that the bus is going to be late. Once the operator knows that their driver is getting behind, and certainly we're all driving slower today because of the road conditions, so once they know they post it to let parents know so they don't have to wait out in the cold the entire time."
For up to date information on bus routes, make sure to check buskids.ca.
- with files from AM800's The Morning Drive