Should school bus drivers retire at 65?

by Rob Peters | June 17, 2008 at 11:16 am | 339 views | 2 comments

A new law in BC no longer requires bus drivers to retire at 65, but many districts are wondering if that's such a wise idea.

It's an interesting question--do driving skills decline at 65, or is a mandatory retirement discrimination?

For specifics on the new law, which came into effect January 1, go here.

A provincial law put into effect this year says people aged 65 can't be forced to retire, but some B.C. school boards want that protection removed from school bus drivers.

Those boards want an exemption from the law, arguing safety concerns for students. At least three districts have taken steps to purge their employment rolls of over-age drivers.

Meanwhile, Coast Mountain Bus Company, the Translink subsidiary that provides transit services in the Lower Mainland and employs over 3000 bus drivers, is enthusiastically complying with the new law, and already has a small cohort of over-65 drivers in its fleet, with eight full-sized buses now being driven by the older drivers, and 17 of the company's van-sized smaller buses.

"There is no real reason for us to discriminate against older drivers," say Sandra Hentzen, Coast Mountain's vice president for human resources. "Nothing special happens at age 65 to make you a worse driver. If we forced drivers to resign, we'd be violating the human rights code."

Greyhound Canada, which is governed by federal legislation and employs around 1,000 drivers across the country, continues to require retirement at 65.