Attention Bill Steckler, Transportation Mangager and Prairie Spirit Bus Garage, 

            I am creating this petition in response to our community outcry in regards to the safety of our children. Historically, Prairie Spirit School Buses provided not only a more convenient bus route for families, but a safe space we feel comfortable allowing our children to wait for the bus or be dropped off. These pick-up, drop-off locations were located within our community. This allowed children to travel to and from the bus route, within a reasonable distance of their residence and on roads with a maximum speed limit of 30km/hr. The distance students had to travel to use these stops was drastically shorter than the distance the bus company is asking students to travel now with the stop being at the front of the community. With colder weather already setting in, this poses many risks for young travellers. Lately, due to some road construction in the community we had been advised of a “temporary” change to the pick-up/drop-off location. Though not ideal, given the circumstances many families obliged. The problem here now is the fact that all of the construction has been completed (and for weeks now) yet, the safe pick-up/drop-off locations have not resumed. 

              I understand that safe travel to and from bus stops bears the burden of responsibility on the parents to teach their children to maneuver safely, however Prairie Spirit also holds responsibility for providing a safe location to do so. Student transit (PSSD Policy 807) states that The Board Of Education strongly favours the practice of using buses to transport children to school. This is because many protocols and guidelines are set in place to protect our children. With that being said, saferoutesinfo.org provides many resources for transportation professionals and parents to access the safety of pick-up and drop-off locations. Within the website you will find a “Walkability Checklist.” School bus stops should be located so that students and parents have adequate pathways to walk from home. Prairie Spirit is insisting that our children walk from the very back of our community to the front area. Though our community does have a speed limit of 30 km/hr, travelling long distance to a much further stop, on roads without sidewalks and where vehicles park obstructing vision is not safe for young students to travel. Our children do not have sufficient space to walk that is separate from traffic, which makes the bus stops within the community, closer to their residences, a safe alternative. The “store stop” at the front area of our community is also a dangerous pick-up/drop-off location because it is far less than 100 meters from a busy highway with vehicles travelling 100km/hr. To provide the safest environment for students to travel to and from the bus stop, routes should be picked on lower traffic, lower speed areas. The front area of our community sees a lot of traffic, more specifically large vehicles such as semis that park and travel within 20 meters of the bus. (I do have photos of our school bus parked nose to nose with a semi from just this morning.) When the choice is between a residential pick-up/drop-off location, or a HIGHWAY pick-up, drop-off location, the safety of our children MUST come first!! 

        Please, stand with me and stand up for our children. Prairie Spirit Bus Garage, and Bill Speckler, Transportation Manager, please reconsider your decision to change our safe pick-up/drop-off location to one that is inconvenient, dangerous, and posses significant risk of harm to our children!!!