The Liberals continued to question the Progressive Conservative government on school bus safety Friday after a Jan. 8 crash revealed that some of the vehicles transporting P.E.I. students are older than what’s allowed under provincial law.

Opposition Leader Hal Perry said tabled documents show as many as 16 school buses currently operating exceed the maximum age limit of 11 years under student transportation regulations in the province’s Education Act — though some can be as old as 13 under certain circumstances, such as temporary replacements.

Education and Early Years Minister Robin Croucher said the January collision between a school bus and a car — which occurred at the intersection of Lower Malpeque Road and Melody Lane in Charlottetown and resulted in no injuries — was a result of human error, not mechanical.

“We have 15,000 stops, 700 runs per day, 264 buses, 264 fantastic bus drivers, 30 to 50 casuals,” Croucher said in the legislature Friday.

“These buses have passed all of the safety inspections that are required to be safe and usable in this province.”

Perry, however, asked whether the government would commit to removing all of the non-compliant buses from routes. 

“Islanders expect better than a government keeping buses on the road that should have been retired, lawfully retired,” he said.

“Student safety should never depend on the Opposition dragging the truth out of this government.”

Transportation Minister Sidney MacEwen said buses that are “perfectly safe” would not be removed from the roads because they’re needed to transport students.

“There are certain cases where you just don’t know what’s going to happen in the morning, so we do have spare buses that are available to go,” MacEwen said during question period.

“They’re incredibly safe.… We are going to get our kids to school and we’re going to get them there as safe as we possibly can.”

Perry accused the PCs of not caring about the law, and said the province doesn’t have a backup plan after pausing its plans to electrify the school bus fleet.

The province set money aside in its 2026-27 capital budget for 137 new diesel buses to replace any older vehicles that are currently in use. The PCs had said they wanted to electrify the entire bus fleet by 2030 — but when electric bus manufacturer LION Electric entered creditor protection in December 2024, P.E.I. cancelled plans to buy any new buses from the company.

MacEwen suggested Friday that legislation pertaining to school bus age could be changed to allow vehicles outside the 11-year window to be used if they’re still in good working condition.

“These buses are incredibly safe and they do an amazing job of reviewing them twice a year and making sure that everything is good to go every single morning to transport our kids to get to school,” he said.

‘Stringent policies’

Speaking outside the legislature, Croucher said P.E.I. has among “the most stringent policies regarding safe school buses in the country,” but said some do exceed the permissible age.

Over the next five years, he said, 57 buses will be aged out of the system as the province starts to bring in the 137 new diesel-powered vehicles.

“Over the next five years, I don’t think we’ll be talking about this problem,” Croucher said, adding diesel buses require less maintenance than electric ones and can be kept on the road longer. 

“Between maintenance schedules, we have less downtime with them and that’s where we’re going to move towards for the time being.”

Student safety is paramount, Croucher said, but added the province does need to change its policy.

“They are registered, insured, inspected for highway use. They are very safe for our students and the bus drivers that drive them,” he said. 

“But we are operating outside of our own policy, so we do need to look at that.”