Amanda Spenst is getting all too accustomed to a morning phone call from her son asking her to drive him to school.
Half the time her son leaves home for school in the morning, she's not sure if he'll get on the bus, or have a bus full of people drive by him.
"By the time the bus gets to around here it's too full to take the rest of the students, so many students are getting refused to get on the bus — and then reverse on the way home," Spenst said.
The morning rush to the bus isn't anything new for Saskatoon transit riders, especially during the first few weeks of September as university students and high school students return to class. But Spenst has safety concerns about the congestion.
"That's where I always turn my mind to how this is going to work in the winter when it's minus 40," Spenst said.
Another parent, Bobbi Oldridge, said getting a spot on the bus that moves through Stonebridge around 8 a.m. has become a free-for-all as students try to avoid being late for class.
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"People were pushing, shoving, trying to get on the bus, Oldridge said.
Spenst and Oldridge said two routes moving students to Holy Cross High School, Aden Bowman Collegiate and Walter Murray Collegiate are affected at peak times in the morning and in the afternoon.
When asked if her son could get on an earlier bus that isn't at capacity, Spenst said, "it's not favourable" since her child would get to school an hour early.
Spenst's wish is to get the city to deploy an extra bus at the busiest hours for all the kids left stranded at the stops waiting half an hour or more for another bus.
"I think they either need to add another route, make a better route for the students, perhaps add a bigger bus, or a second bus," she said. "That's a common solution in other cities."
Jim Puffalt, director of Saskatoon Transit, said the city is monitoring all of its routes citywide as it learns more about ridership at peak times. Puffalt said transit supervisors will be out at busy routes Monday morning to get an extra set of eyes on any potential issues.
"Generally, the problem is everybody's trying to get on the same bus at the same time," he said.
Puffalt's advice to students is to avoid peak times by taking an earlier route, use real-time tracking apps to help reduce wait times at bus stops and be ready to board with your fare when the bus arrives.
"We know it's really inconvenient, it's stressful, and it can cause a lot of issues for people. Unfortunately, that's the way the situation is the first couple of weeks in September."
Spenst has sent out an online survey to Stonebridge parents, where she says roughly 100 respondents have voiced similar concerns about bus capacity issues at peak times.
Oldridge says many parents have given up on relying on the bus altogether.
"Very unreliable and I mean, dangerous in some aspects. There was another student who was apparently pushed down the other day trying to get on the bus. It's very discouraging," she said.
Puffalt has children of his own and understands morning routines and the stress of getting his kids out the door and onto the bus. He says the city has gone nearly a year without any transit service disruptions and overcapacity issues will subside in the next couple of weeks.
"This first couple of weeks of September, it's flat out trying to make sure we get everybody where they have to go," Puffalt said.
With getting her daughter to school becoming an unreliable excursion, Oldridge is hoping the city can work out some sort of solution so students aren't left standing outside any longer.
"Many more parents and families would like to be able to rely on this as a service for their students, and simply can't," she said.
