School buses encounter traffic issues on 1st day

The first day of school after a major reshuffling of P.E.I. school bus schedules went pretty well in most of the province, says Public Schools Branch director Parker Grimmer, but there were some traffic issues in Charlottetown.

School buses required re-routing with 1,200 of the province's 19,000 students rezoned this year to more evenly distribute school populations.

"We definitely had to navigate a few traffic issues in the city. I think the rest of the province went pretty well," said Grimmer.

Computer models that run new routes can't fully account for traffic.

Grimmer said the first day of school is always an issue, because many parents like to drive their children on the first day, and that can lead to some confusion about what bus to get on when they are leaving school.

"It takes a couple of days to get these routines established," he said.

The new routes are being reviewed, and Grimmer expects there will be some improvements in their operation on Friday.

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