Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility distances depend on the grade level of the student and whether they are travelling to school or to a bus stop. The following chart indicates the distances outlined in the Transportation Policy.

Transportation Policy

Distance is measured as the shortest distance by road or approved pathway from the nearest point of public access to the student’s property to the nearest point of public access to school property. STSTB uses Ministry of Education approved routing mapping and planning software solely and exclusively to measure distances.

A great place to start is to check for your zoned school and eligibilty for transportation using the eligibilty tools found on our website.

For new students, at the time you register your child at the school, on the registration form you will select the option that you are requesting transportation. This information will be provided to Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay (STSTB) who will then process the request, and if eligible for transportation, communicate the busing information back to the school. Transportation will not be provided until approval has been given from Student Transportation Services Thunder Bay therefore alternate arrangements may have to be made in the interim.

For all current students, except those attending a LDSB Secondary school, contact your school office to request transportation.  This information will be provided to Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay (STSTB) who will then process the request, and if eligible for transportation, communicate the busing information back to the school as well as made available through the Parent Portal. Transportation will not be provided until approval has been given from Student Transportation Services Thunder Bay therefore alternate arrangements may have to be made in the interim.

For students attending a LDSB secondary school, contact our office at 807 625-1660.

It typically takes 3 school days to organize transportation arrangements once STSTB receives the request from the school. Due to the volume of changes and requests during start up during the last week of August and the first couple of weeks in September it could take up to a maximum of 10 school days.

Transportation may be provided to and from a caregiver's address if it is within the same school boundary and meets the distance eligibility requirments for the student's grade. Transportation will not be provided to a location outside of the school boundary. Please provide this request to the school along with the sitter contact name and number. The request will be sent to STSTB for consideration. Once approved or denied the school will provide the information to parent/guardian.

All requests for special needs transportation (including disabilities) need to go through the school principal who will work with special needs professionals at the school and/or the school board and STSTB to determine the transportation needs of the student.

Elementary School Students (Opt-Out):

Students continuing to attend the same elementary school and are already assigned to transportation are considered as having the same transportation requirements each year and will be automatically scheduled when STSTB is planning routes for the following year. However, students will be removed if:

• their change in grade results in a change in eligibility for transportation
• they were receiving courtesy transportation which must be reapplied for each year
• their address changes to a different in-zone, eligible address and there is no request received from the school for transportation
• they are no longer enrolled at that school

Senior Elementary School and Secondary School Students (Opt-In):

Due to a greater propensity for life events which can effect the need for busing (changing schools, afterschool jobs, sports and other activities, learning to drive, etc.), all students attending a senior elementary school or secondary school are removed from transportation when STSTB is planning for the following school year. Each spring, students attending these schools the following September must apply for transportation using an online form made available at that time on the www.ststb.ca website. 

Courtesy Transportation may be provided for students who are ineligible for transportation on a bus servicing their area provided that:

• there is room on the bus
• the student's address is zoned for the school they are attending
• the student is able to get to and from an existing stop for an eligible student safely

Note: STSTB does not create stops nor reroutes buses for students who are not eligible for transportation. Requests for a closer stop to be added for a student offered courtesy transportation will be refused.

During the school year, courtesy transportation may be withdrawn at any time for any of the following reasons:

• seating is required for eligible students
• altering the route is necessary
• student behaviour is unacceptable

Courtesy Transportation can be requested the same way as for eligible transportation (see FAQ: How do I request transportation for my child?), however, as a rule, STSTB does not accept courtesy transportation requests prior to the start nor during the busy first few weeks of the school year. At the start of each school year, STSTB will announce the date when courtesy requests will start being accepted. Requests received  by STSTB will then be processed on a 'first come, first served' basis.

On occasion there may be a situation that arises that requires a student to travel on a bus because of an emergency situation. This is not for birthday parties, to allow a homework project to be completed or for a job. The student may or may not already be receiving transportation to school. Contact the school principal or vice-principal to have a “Temporary Emergency Transportation Request Form” filled out. The school will electronclly forward a copy to STSTB for approval and forwarding onto the bus driver.

Temporary transportation changes cannot be accommodated. Families traveling (i.e. Trips, conferences, etc...) during the school year are responsible for making their own arrangements for their children if they are at a caregivers/family friend for the duration of the families absence.

Parent should have their child out at their stop at least 5 minutes prior to the posted pick up time. Bus drivers are instructed by STSTB not to stop unless they see the student(s) standing out at the stop. Consideration will however be given during extreme inclement weather conditions for drivers to look for students who are sheltering from the elements, but still visible, ready, and waiting for the bus. 

The parent/guardian is responsible for the safety and conduct of their child/children on the way to and from the bus stop and while they are waiting at the bus stop.

We encourage the person who is meeting the student at the bus stop to wait on the same side of the road where your child will be exiting the bus. The reason for this is to eliminate the risk of your child running across the street to meet you. You can then cross the street with your child after the bus driver has given the ‘all clear’ signal that it is safe to cross (all traffic is stopped).

If your child must cross the street, please reinforce with them that they must stay away from the danger zone, cross in front of the crossing gate and wait for the bus driver’s signal that it is safe to cross.

For safety and efficiency, school vehicle stops are created centrally to accommodate numerous students. Other than for exceptional conditions, school vehicle stops will be a minimum of 200 metres apart.

Contact STSTB. The stop location will be reviewed by a Transportation Officer and a decision made which may or may not result in the stop being changed.

The types of concerns typically raised by parents are no sidewalks, traffic speed, no posted school zone signs, no cross walks, no crossing guards, and no railroad crossing signs and/or construction. These potential concerns are under the jurisdiction of the municipality and STSTB may not consider these types of situations as safety concerns in and of themselves.

No. Drivers are employees of the bus operator and are not authorized to make any changes or accommodate requests. Bus operators are under contract with the school board and therefore both the operator and the driver must comply with board transportation policy and terms of the contract. A driver cannot and will not authorize requests. It would be inappropriate to place the driver in jeopardy through demands contrary to policy or to their conditions of employment.

Any request for a change to a stop location or for the addition of a bus stop must be submitted to the school. The school will put the request through to STSTB. After reviewing the request, STSTB will decide within the parameters of transportation polices and procedures, whether the request will be approved or denied, and notification will be given to the school to contact the parent/guardian making the request. All stops must be authorized by Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay so they can maintain accurate bus route information.

Should a road or street closure occur in your area that will effect transportation to your school STSTB will work with bus operators to find an alternative route and possible changes in pick up and drop off locations for students. STSTB will work with schools to notify parents should there be any changes. Every effort will be made to ensure buses arrive at school on time.

No, your child’s transportation is governed by the same policies as other families who do not have infants at home. It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to get their child to and from the bus stop in both the morning and afternoon.

The distance to stop policy applies equally to parents and daycare providers, therefore you are required to use the designated stop for the area. It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to get to and from the bus stop in both the morning and afternoon. As the designated guardian of the students for which you provide daycare services it is your responsibility to ensure their safe arrival and departure at the respective bus stop locations in the morning and afternoon.

Parents now have the ability to access current school bus information for students by using our secure Parent Portal . Please follow the instructions provided on the Parent Portal page.

Yes, bus routes and times can change based on the bus route and student registrations. Please check the Parent Portal start ing the last week of June and again prior to the start of the school year to confirm assignment to transportation, your route number, stop location, and times of pick up and drop off.

The school office should be contacted as soon as possible with all address and contact information changes. The school will put the information into the Board’s computerized student information system allowing STSTB to see it.  Please note:  STSTB is unable to make changes to student contact and address information.

If your child does not arrive at their stop in the afternoon, the first step should be to contact the school to see if the child is still there. If the student is not at the school, the next step would be to contact the bus company. The bus company dispatch will contact the bus driver to see if the child is on the bus or if perhaps the student may have gotten off the bus at a location other than their assigned stop.

If you cannot reach the school or you do not know the name of the bus company (found with your student's busing information in the Parent Portal and with the route information in the Bus Status app), you may contact STSTB for assistance. Our office is open until 5:00 p.m. every school day. Our phone number is (807) 625-1660.

The drivers must check their bus after each run. Items left on the bus by students will be held by the driver and may be claimed by the child the next day. To inquire about any items left on the bus, contact the bus company directly.

All Students in JK or SK require a parent/guardian to accompany them to and from the bus stop. This is for the safety of your child. Please note that you have to ensure that your JK/SK child is taken to and met at the bus stop as we will not let your child off the bus, and your child will be returned to the school.

Concerns regarding the behaviour of your child's bus driver, Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay should be contacted. When a concern is received by our office, the bus operator is contacted and the complaint is investigated and, once complete, a follow up is done with the complainent.

If you have a concern regarding student behaviour on the bus, you should contact the school principal. The bus is considered an extension of the classroom and the school principal is responsible for student behaviour issues.

If equipment or other items cannot be stored on the student’s lap or in their backpack, they are not permitted on the bus. Aisles must be kept clear at all times to ensure the safe evacuation of students from the bus in emergency situations. In addition, large objects often cannot be effectively secured inside the bus, which can result in them becoming projectiles in the event of a hard stop or accident.

Eating and drinking are not allowed on the bus for safety reasons. A child could choke and with the high seat backs and noise on the bus, the driver may not be aware of the situation until it is too late. Left-over food and drink not only causes a mess, but can attract bees and wasps. Some students have a very severe reaction to bee stings and to some foods such as peanut butter. It is safer for everyone when the no eating and drinking rule is adhered to.

Compartmentalization and Seat Belts

‘The key to compartmentalization is that the back of each seat is padded and is a specific distance from the seat behind it. If the bus comes to a sudden stop, the padded seat back absorbs the forward energy of the child seated behind. Without a seat belt, the child's body slides forward and hits the seat back in such a way as to distribute the force of the impact over the entire upper body. If a lap belt were used, the child's body might pivot on the belt, focusing the force of the blow onto the head and neck. And if the seat belt is not worn correctly (it should be worn low on the hips) the stomach or spine might be damaged. In addition, there are concerns that instead of wearing their belts, children might play with them, potentially injuring other children on the bus.’

In 1984, Transport Canada conducted research on the use of seat belts on school buses in frontal collisions using the current configuration. It was found that adding seat belts to this system did not increase safety but did increase the potential for more severe head and neck injuries. Transport Canada also tested several other seating configurations, but found no significant safety improvements that did not also involve other safety trade-offs. Given the extremely low number of fatalities involving school bus passengers inside the bus, the addition of seat belts does not constitute a safety advantage.

Visit www.ststb.ca and go to Reported Delays and Cancellations

Any bus that is delayed greater than 10 minutes will be posted by the bus operator under Reported Delays and Cancellations as soon as the driver has made the dispatch office aware that the bus is delayed. The posting will list the bus route #, the bus run# and the length of the delay so remember to keep your bus route # handy

Bus Status 4 app

Families can download the free Bus Status 4 App through Google Play or the Apple App Store to get signed up for instant notifications on your mobile device of delays and cancellations for only the routes you subscribe to.  More information can be found on the Reported Delays and Cancellations page on our website.

Visit www.ststb.ca and go to Reported Delays and Cancellations

Any bus that is cancelled will be posted under Reported Delays and Cancellations once it has been confirmed that the route cannot be covered. The posting will list the bus route #, the bus run# and the estimated or expected length of the cancellation.

Bus Status 4 app

Families can download the free Bus Status 4 App through Google Play or the Apple App Store to get signed up for instant notifications on your mobile device of delays and cancellations for only the routes you subscribe to.  More information can be found on the Reported Delays and Cancellations page on our website.

Note: Late or "last minute" route cancellations due to drivers calling in sick that same morning are, regretably, unavoidable when there are no other drivers available to cover due to the ongoing driver shortage.

Currently there is a significant school bus driver shortage however, bus operators are always working diligently to minimize or eliminate route cancellations through ongoing driver recruitment.

School bus drivers are employees of the school bus operaors and choose their routes through a senority bidding process as per their respective collective agreements making it difficult to reassign drivers to other routes. It is STSTB's practice that schools with routes that have been cancelled for 10 school days in a row will then have all their bus routes permanently reconfigured to absorb the students and stops of the cancelled route. Due to the extremely disruptive nature of doing this to an entire school community, all other efforts to resolve the matter with the bus operator must be exhausted first.

For snow, ice, freezing rain, and foggy conditions, the process starts by 5am with the STSTB Consortium Manager receiving current weather and road condition reports from many sources across our entire service area and determining whether to recommend cancelling transportation services to our consortium school boards by 6:15am. A recommendation to cancel is based on all available information and a reasonable, professional opinion on our ability to safely transport students in both current and forecasted conditions.

The Directors of Education for each board, or their designate, make the final decision on whether to proceed with cancelling transportation based on the information and recommendation provided by the Consortium Manager. These types of cancellations are either rural transportation only or all transportation (system-wide) depending on the severity of conditions in both types of areas with affected routes cancelled for the entire day. Any decision to close schools for the day is made by each individual board and not STSTB. Any school closures will be announced at the same time as the transportation cancellation announcement.

For Extreme Cold Temperature conditions: If the ambient temperature is -34°C or below, regardless of wind chill, on the Environment Canada Weather Website (at the Thunder Bay Airport) (http://weather.gc.ca) at 6:00 am, student transportation may be cancelled. The STSTB Consortium Manager, upon determining that this condition has been met, will contact the Directors of Education for each board, or their designate, to confirm the cancellation of all morning student transportation and recommend whether to also cancel after school transportation based on forecasted temperature conditions during that time. Any decision to close schools for the day is made by each individual board and not STSTB. An after-school transportation cancellation and any school closures will be announced in the morning at the same time as the morning cancellation announcement.

Note: An extreme cold temperature cancellation is based on a consensus of our school bus operators that school buses have a significantly increased probability of failure around -40°C. Given the fact that winter temperatures can vary by several degrees colder across our entire service area, -34°C from Environment Canada’s Thunder Bay Airport instruments is used to allow for several degrees colder in the ambient temperature further out while still remaining below -40°C in those areas. As windchill is a measurement of what the temperature “feels” like to the skin, it does not adversely affect inanimate objects such as school buses. Therefore, only ambient temperature is used in determining whether to cancel service.

The safety of the student to, from and while waiting at the bus stop is the responsibility of the parent/guardian and it is ultimately the parents’ decision to put their child on the bus if they have concerns regarding buses running during inclement weather.

In the event of inclement weather resulting in rural or system-wide transportation cancellations and school closures, notification of such  will be posted no later than 6:30am through:

www.ststb.ca

Bus Status App (push notifications sent to your mobile device)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ststhunderbay

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ststhunderbay

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ststhunderbay

www.lakeheadschools.ca

www.tbcschools.ca

www.csdcab.ca.

Notifications will also be sent to local radio stations for broadcast by 7:00 am.

You may also call the STSTB Weather and School Closure number at (807) 625-1661.

It is parental choice whether to put their child(ren) on the bus on days when transportation has been deemed operational.

Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay (STSTB) is a student transportation consortium formed in 2008 through an agreement between Conseil scolaire de district catholique des Aurores boréales, Lakehead District School Board and Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board.

The purpose of the consortium is to provide common administration of student transportation services for its member Boards within Thunder Bay and surrounding municipalities and townships. STSTB is one of more than thirty student transportation consortia within Ontario established under mandate by the Ministry of Education. As of September 2023, STSTB also provides student transportation administrative services to Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario through a shared service agreement with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board.

In a collaborative effort to increase efficiencies in all aspects of home-to-school transportation, each member school board has adopted joint student transportation policies and procedures for the Thunder Bay service area. A Governance Committee comprised of Trustee and Senior Administration representatives from each member school board oversees the overall function of the STSTB consortium with a Consortium Manager responsible for day-to-day operations, reporting, and administration of school board contracts with student transportation service providers.

STSTB endeavors to ensure safe and efficient transportation services to and from school each day for students who are eligible based on the mutually agreed transportation policy of its member Boards. The consortium plans and implements home-to-school transportation for nearly 9,000 students within a 5,086 square kilometer service area.

The STSTB office is open year round however, due to reduced staffing during the summer break, you may need to leave a message with your contact information, but a staff member on duty will return your call. We encourage parents to contact us as soon as possible during July and early August if they need to set up or change transportation. This is an ideal time to do these changes instead of waiting until the extremely busy last weeks of August or first weeks of September.

Student transportation in Ontario is funded by the Ministry of Education to school boards through the Student Transportation Fund (STF). This funding does not reflect actual costs for school boards to provide transportation but rather provides funding for providing transportation services based on a new formula developed by the Ministry starting with the 2023/2024 school year using Common Reference Standards and Benchmark Costs, both established by the Ministry, and universally applied across the province.

The Ministry’s Common Reference Standards (CRS) criteria, based on student and distance eligibility is applied to determine allocations under this fund. Funding is based on the optimal number of vehicles needed to transport students to and from school within a geographical area based on distance from their home to their designated schools. These Ministry funded eligibility distances are: JK/SK – 0.8 km or more, Grades 1 to 8 – 1.6 km or more, Grades 9 to 12 – 3.2 km or more.

While the CRS criteria is used for funding purposes, school boards can make local decisions on operational policies that can vary from the CRS criteria and reflect their local needs and circumstances. However, the total funding our local school boards receive from the STF, which is  based on Ministry funded distances and benchmark costs and includes additional local priorities and transition funding, does not cover our boards’ actual costs to provide student transportation for their students that are less than the ministry’s funded distances.

Increases in total funding when compared to transportation grant amounts received prior to the 2023/2024 school year is attributed to additional funding now provided in the new STF for increased fuel costs and a driver retention and recruitment bonus program not previously included in the transportation grant funding. These additional funds within the annual student transportation funding cannot be used for anything other than their intended purpose.

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You can contact the Consortium at 807-625-1660 or email as at info@ststb.ca . We will be happy to answer any questions or concerns.