Important information about the Transportation website during strikes

Posted January 20, 2020

The following contains important information about student transportation (busing) communication during a strike that results in the closure of schools to students. 

The Transportation Consortium (STWDSTS) provides student transportation services to 5 school boards (including the UGDSB) and a number of private schools in our area. Busing information is displayed on the STWDSTS website by “division”/geographic region. 

The STWDSTS website (www.stwdsts.ca) provides students, staff and parents with information on the status of school buses each morning as it relates to weather (e.g. All Ok, Buses Cancelled). The STWDSTS website was not designed to convey information about busing as it relates to job action and school closures as the result of a strike. 

Labour sanctions may impact school boards differently, and in many cases, students from different school boards are on the same bus route. 

On days where strikes close schools in any of the 5 school boards, the STWDSTS website will display a “SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT” message, rather than displaying busing information. This message will direct all users to visit their school board’s homepage for current labour and transportation updates.

Where parents/students can get UGDSB busing information during labour disruption/strikes:

STWDSTS will continue to post cancellation information for individual bus routes on BusPlanner Web https://www.findmyschool.ca/Cancellations.aspx and will continue to share general information on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stdwsts

The school board will post transportation information on its website only on days when the STWDSTS website displays the “SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT” message. 

  • Scenario 1: UGDSB schools are open, but a different board is closed due to job action. Please check the board website at www.ugdsb.ca, or your school’s website, which will display transportation information by division at the top of the homepage. 
  • Scenario 2: UGDSB schools are closed due to job action. In that case, all student transportation services are cancelled for UGDSB students. The board website and all school websites will be updated with information regarding the closure of schools and cancellation of transportation for UGDSB students. 

SIGN UP FOR STWDSTS BUSING ALERTS: 

Parents, students and staff can sign up for STWDSTS email alerts to receive alerts regarding specific bus routes (however please note that in some cases a bus route may continue to run for students of one board even when transportation has been cancelled for students of a different board due to job action). To sign up visit: https://www.findmyschool.ca/Subscriptions/Login.aspx

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