Adam Thompson has been in the role of Supervisor of Transportation for the Portage la Prairie School Division for a couple of weeks. He says he's noticed a few things that he thinks are needed in the division.

"Public understanding and patience would be one, especially with the construction. The construction has definitely affected the flow of daily life in Portage la Prairie, and it's only going to get worse, I believe, with the welcomed upgrades to the avenue. More traffic congestion on the crescent. And obeying traffic signals of the buses, especially with the stop signs. When the stop signs are extended, we need people to stop and be mindful that there may be students running out in front of the bus."

With the division covering 20 routes on a daily basis, Thompson notes, another thing they could use is drivers.

"We're covered full-time. Our 20 routes are efficient enough that we don't need to (hire more), but if we were to lose drivers, we would definitely need to be looking at consolidating some of those routes and that just means longer time on the buses for the students, which is not ideal," Thompson shares. "We're always open to drivers whether it's casual spare driver or a full-time route. If you're interested, please contact me at (204) 857-5841 Ext 2."

Thompson adds some of the qualities that would make someone a good fit for driving in the division.

"Not everybody can be a bus driver, right? It takes a special type of person, a patient person. It's difficult driving conditions sometimes, but the reward is there. It's flexible and it's fulfilling."