Whereas many small local governments not in close proximity to larger centres do not have publicly provided or privately provided bus service available; And whereas in the event of an emergency evacuation, the provision of one or more busses would be an integral part of the evacuation of individuals particularly those vulnerable, mobility challenged and without their own or supportive transportation; And whereas most small local governments have school bus services provided by the school districts to transport children to and from school but the buses are not stationed in the local governments in the summer which is the critical time particularly for wildfire risk and potential evacuation: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the Province of BC to require school districts to keep some buses in the local government they serve during summer months to provide for the evacuation of vulnerable individuals if required.
Ministry of Education and Childcare Through the work of Emergency Management British Columbia EMBC, Government is committed to working with communities and local governments to update and future-proof our collective, province-wide ability to respond to crises induced by climate change. School districts continue to demonstrate significant leadership in responding to local emergency events, leveraging their facilities and transportation assets to assist with these efforts, as necessary. This includes using schools as staging grounds for wildfire fighting operations, accommodating stranded passengers at schools in the event of major road closures or using schools as cooling stations in the event of heat domes, for example. At this time, 47 out of 60 school districts own and operate their own transportation fleets with each district having different strategies to store buses during the summer months. The remaining 13 school districts contract out the service to private operators. Requiring school districts to store buses in the local government they serve during summer months does not seem feasible. The Ministry of Education and Child Care looks forward to continuing to coordinate closely with school districts, local governments, EMBC and other agencies to assist with responding to and recovering from local emergency crises.