P.E.I. mom frustrated by clay road too muddy for school bus

Clay roads too muddy for buses to drive on are making it difficult for some Island children to get to school.

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JohleneWhitestruggles to drive down North Freetown Road twice a day to pick up her kids, she said, and it's taking a toll on her minivan.

The school bus hasn't come down the kilometre or so to her house since February, the longest service interruption she has seen since her kids, 11 and nine, started school.

"We are a bit frustrated and wish something could be done," White said.

School officials told CBC News reporter Brian Higginsthey'reworking with the provincial Department of Transportation to try to get trouble spots repaired. They will try to level the road if they think thatwon't make it worse, but some clay roads are too wet to even attempt repairs.

Meanwhile, bus drivers won't go down a road if they might get stuck or slide into the ditch, said school transportation co-ordinator Catherine MacKinnon.

"When a school bus driver is approaching a road, they do use their discretion on whether or not they're going to continue and they may need to turn back and call it in so we can contact the parents," she said.

When a school bus driver is approaching a road, they do use their discretion on whether or not they're going to continue. School transportation co-ordinator Catherine MacKinnon

Bus drivers also have reported trouble spots recently, including areas around Cardigan in Kings County, the Village Green Road near Stratford, and around the Trout Riverin Prince County.

The addition of gravel to some roads would help, saidRustico-EmeraldMLA BradTrivers.

"This year is particularly bad year when it comes to clay roads," he said.

"It's been an ongoing problem for decades really. In some cases, there are some roads that different residents have said 'look, we don't want this paved, but what we need is a long-term strategy.'"

In the English school system, there are about 200 buses that make about 14,000 stops for roughly18,000 students, MacKinnon said.

When parents are called to pick up their kids because a bus can't go down a muddy road, it can disrupt the bus schedule.

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