The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division’s transportation accountability report shows that the division is having success filling routes and a new GPS system is helping.
The Sask. Rivers board got a look at the report during their regular meeting on Monday. It shows the division cancelled 294.5 routes until Jan. 31, 2026, this is significantly lower than the 575 cancelled until Jan. 31, 2025.
The cancellation of all bus routes because of cold weather on Jan. 23 occurred before the report was completed.
Director of education Neil Finch said that transportation is going well despite the regular challenges in the file.
“For the most part, this school year, we’re halfway through it (and) we’ve had buses running most days,” Finch said. “We know we’ve still got some winter weather that can approach but in the end, we’re happy.”
The division has no unfilled routes, but there were 24.5 routes cancelled due to no substitute driver. The division also upgraded the GPS system on their fleet recently.
“The GPS system that we are now using, I know that has been quite valuable for the transportation department and also being able to hire bus drivers,” Finch said. “That’s not an easy thing. At the moment, we have all routes filled with a bus driver.”
According to Finch, the new GPS system replaced a very outdated one.
“Just the amount of information now that we have about our buses and their routes is significantly better,” he said.
The report included data up until Jan. 31, 2026 and past data until Jan. 31 dating back to 2022.
Weather was the biggest cause of cancellations with 254 days until Jan. 31. There were also 16 days cancelled due to mechanical issues.
In 2022, the board requested more depth and greater detail from the transportation report. Each division in Saskatchewan receives this report from the Ministry of Education four times a year to see how the division’s buses, drivers and mechanics are doing. The report is done semi-annually in the division.
Chief Financial Officer Jerry Pidborochynski gave the report. It featured data up to Jan. 31, 2026.
The number of students transported has decreased slightly from the previous report in 2025. In 2025-2026 there were 3,206 students transported compared to 3,268 in 2025.
The average age of the bus fleet has increased from 8.6 years in 2025 to 9.1 years in 2025. There are currently 102 transportation routes with 24 contracted out.
Bus passes purchased at a discount rate due to a partnership with the City of Prince Albert to transport in city high school students increased slightly from 1,123 in 2025 to 1,273 in 2026.
The average urban one-way bus ride is 15 minutes while the average rural bus ride one way is 26 minutes. The longest urban one-way bus ride is 45 minutes and the longest rural one-way bus ride is 80 minutes, which used to be 95 minutes in the previous report.
There was an improvement in the longest rural rider time due to students residing in Elk Ridge completing high school.
Sask Rivers board meets with PAATA
The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division board of education had a meeting with representative from the Prince Albert Area Teachers Association (PAATA).
Director of Education Neil Finch explained that the meeting was over supper in January.
“We Just talked about common celebrations and concerns that we wanted to chat about during that time,” Finch said.
The Board has also been invited to the PAATA Teacher’s Convention in March.
In a release the division said that these meetings reinforce our shared commitment
to students, families, and the broader community and further strengthen the collaborative relationships that support public education. The release added that he Board values these partnerships and recognizes that ongoing communication and mutual understanding are essential to advancing collective goals and sustaining a strong, responsive school division.
