School buses will be on Grey and Bruce counties' roads for the first day of class after all.
The Bluewater District School Board and Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board announced a deal was reached with the region's school bus operators late Thursday afternoon.
"We are glad to confirm that an agreement in principle has been reached, and student transportation will proceed as normal for the start of the school year in September," the school boards said. "We recognize the uncertainty this situation may have caused, and we appreciate families' continued patience."
Earlier this week, School Bus Ontario, the association representing Ontario school bus operators, warned that if a deal wasn't reached by Friday parents would need to seek alternative means of transportation for their kids for the first day of school.
The six school bus operators in the two counties within the Student Transportation Service Consortium of Grey Bruce are responsible for more than 300 bus routes. They transport 16,000 students to and from school daily.
The group has been without a contract since the end of June.
Details about the agreement have yet to be released. However, the school boards confirmed negotiations with bus operators were held in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
"Throughout this process, we worked to balance the cost pressures facing operators with our responsibility to manage public funds responsibly," the boards added.
With school buses now locked in for the first day of school. Parents are asked to complete all standard back-to-school transportation steps as soon as possible. That includes logging into the Edulog Parent Portal app and opting in for transportation for each child. Failure to do so will result in students not being assigned a bus route, the boards said.
