Mike Brideau, is the Alouette Bus Lines Operations Manager based out of West Nipissing which also services areas in and around the North Bay area.
Aside from his job, he is a father too, and like many other parents in the North Bay area, his daughter cannot board her morning school bus because for the third time this week, bus officials cancelled school bus service due to the threat of freezing rain.
“I’m not really sure that there has ever been one day where you’ll make everyone happy in regards to making that dreaded two-word decision ‘Snow Day,’” admitted Brideau.
“Parents need to realize that schools are still open! Don’t blame the bus operators that your child isn’t going to school because there are no buses. You as a parent can still drive them in.
“The response that I get is, ‘Oh but roads are too bad for me to do that!’ How do I answer that comment?”
Brideau says they have a process in place to determine whether or not its a snow day.
Here’s the protocol:
• Bus Operators in the area are out checking roadways anywhere from 3:30 a.m to 5:15 a.m.
• Gather information on the road conditions
• 5:30 a.m. Bus Operators all call in for a conference call with Nipissing Parry Sound Student Transportation Services (NPSSTS)
• Every Bus Operator has an input on what they think should happen in their area of responsibility
• A decision is then made on cancellation or not
At the end of the day, Brideau says the decision is all about the safety of the precious cargo, the children.
“I could probably write a book about the comments that I’ve received over the years in regards to Snow Days, some of them might be too vulgar for print though,” Brideau stated candidly.
“I would like to ask everyone, if we ran buses on those close days and for some reason a bus got into an accident or slid off the road how you feel if that was your son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, neighbour’s child that was seriously injured because we thought ‘we can do it.’”
Brideau admits sometimes the weather forecast plays a part and as we all know, the forecast is never 100 per cent, but they are comfortable making the cancellation call for the safety of everyone on the road, be it in the morning or late in the afternoon.
