HALIFAX -- The first few days of school have brought complaints about school bus delays, from parents in the Halifax area.

The start of the school year has been a stressful challenge for the Swindall family.

"Morning bus has not shown up for three days in a row," said Dorothy Swindall. "I have to go to work for 7:30 and drop my kids off at their babysitter's house."

Luckily the babysitter was able to provide a drive three days in a row, but that's not the only problem.

"The bus coming home (after school) has not come home," Swindall said. "He just hasn't shown up. So I've had to leave work to go pick them up."

Kristina Wagner-Hornbuckle's five-year-old son Beckham began Grade Primary this week.

The bus trips to school have been on time, but after school it's a different story.

"The after school bus did not pick up my son on the first day of school or second day of school," said Wagner-Hornbuckle. "And they didn't contact the school to say they didn't have a bus driver."

Wagner-Hornbuckle says her son was stranded in the heat after school.

"Beckham has severe asthma and yesterday at three o'clock it was registering 34 degrees humidity," said Wagner-Hornbuckle. "The school had my son and his peers waiting in the sun for over an hour for a bus that was never going to come."

Stephanie MacKinnon from the Halifax Regional Centre for Education says HRCE is trying to improve notifications to families when bus delays happen.

MacKinnon says it's been are a major issue this first week back to school.

"We are currently experiencing a driver shortage with some of our providers and we are looking to improve our recruitment with our providers for those bus drivers," MacKinnon said.

MacKinnon also says two of three bus companies hired by HRCE -- Southland Transportation and Student Transportation of Canada are dealing with driver shortages and delays.

"We are working with our providers to improve the service and reliability of the service," MacKinnon said.

Coady MacNeil from Southland Transportation told CTV in a statement that a shortage of bus drivers has been brought on by delays in the training and licensing program caused by COVID-19 as well as service enhancements implemented by the HRCE.

Southland Transportation also told CTV News they are trying to speed up recruitment and training action plans to help minimize disruptions in school bus service.