An estimated 36,800 yellow school buses provide transportation daily to 2.5 million students, about 55% of Canada's K-12 student population.

Like its neighbor to the south, Canada has an extensive school transportation system. And, like the United States, Canada's school transportation system uses traditional yellow school buses, though in Quebec 46,000 students are transported to and from school by public transit buses.

School bus safety is a particular area of interest for Transport Canada. Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. National Traffic Safety Administration covers numerous aspects of school bus safety ranging from manufacturing standards to collision investigation. It also ensures that all school buses, whether domestically produced or imported from the United States, meet the requirements of the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

The North American Free Trade Association, and prior to that the Auto Pact, allows easy import and export of school buses between the two countries. Blue Bird and Thomas Built Buses both have school bus manufacturing plants in Canada. They are joined by Canadian bus builders Les Enterprises Michael Corbeil, Ltd. and A. Girardin, Inc. Altold, these four bus builders manufacture about 3,500 school buses annually. Of the total number of school buses produced annually, approximately 15 percent are small buses, 20 percent are transit-style buses, and the remaining 65 percent are conventional-style buses.

Construction of the buses is governed by a series of 37 Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that are patterned after the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Most recently, the Canadian Standardds Assocation, in cooperation with industry, provincial and territorial officials, developed the D-250-98 standards.

Transport Canada is the federal agency responsible for school bus safety in Canada. Roughly the equivalent of the National Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S., Transport Canada issues regulations and guidelines, reviews bus safety issues, studies occupant protection, and more. School bus safety is of particular interest to Transport Canada.

Canada publishes the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, a series of federal regulations patterned after the U.S. federal motor vehicle safety standards. While the designations for each regulations varies slightly, the language of these two sets of federal regulations is virtually identical. The similarity is both due to, and facilitates, the importation and exportation of automobiles and trucks between the two countries. The so-called Auto Pact is a cornerstone of the good trade relations between Canada and the United States.

They key standard for school buses in Canada is D-250. The standard was developed under the auspices of the Canadian Standards Association. Dating back to 1975, and most recently revamped within the last year, D-250-98 codifies school bus construction. It is a voluntary standard adopted through regulation at the provincial level. D-250-98 incorporates all the relevant Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, along with some other concepts not found in CMVSS. The thrust of D-250-98 is that it is illegal to sell a school bus in Canada that does not conform to the standard. The D-250 standard is the method by which Canada ensures that school buses imported from the United States meet Canadian safety and construction standards.

Starting with D-250-98, the standards are no longer just construction standards but also 0perational standards. This means that when a school board bus a bus the bus must be Maintained to the D-250-98 standards as long as it is in service.

Copies of D-250-98 may be obtained from the Canadian Standards Association for (C)$50.00. Contact the association at 1/800-463-6727, or write to Sales Department, CSA International, 178 Rexdale Blvd., Toronto, Ontario. M9W-1R3. Specific questions about D-250-98 should be directed to kevin.mackenzie@csa-international.org at CSA. updated 11/21/06

School Transportation in the Provinces of Canada
	Total K-12 Students	Number of Students Transported	Percent Students Transported	Total School Buses	Public School Districts	K-12 Transportation Expenditure
Alberta	538,400	305,800	57%	3,000	60	(C)$160.5M
British Columbia	614,167	118,396	19%	1,526	60	(C)$86.5M
Manitoba	195,100	62,100	32%	1,693	56	(C)$40.5M
New Brunswick	131,000	100,000	76%	1,450	18	(C)$42M
New Foundland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nova Scotia	162,360	90,000	55.4%	1,100	N/A	N/A
Ontario	1,952,000	920,000	47%	16,000	122	(C)$570M
Quebec	1,059,686	701,286	66%	10,000	69	(C)$380M
Saskatchewan	N/A	193,881	50,786	2,031	118	(C)$68.7
* Source: School Transportation News research