The P.E.I. government will be taking about a third of its school buses off the road immediately, and pulling the rest on Thursday and Friday after routine inspections found problems in some of the vehicles, the province announced.

These buses ferried students to the legislature Wednesday for an anti-smoking demonstration before the province pulled one-third of its school buses off the road. (CBC)

The decision, which will affect thousands of schoolchildren, was made Wednesday.

The routine inspections on 20 buses revealed "structural deficiencies" in 16 of them, the government said. Those buses were made in 1994 or earlier.

"What they discovered … was that the corrosion that was evident on the exterior and around the wheel well had gone much further into the structural components of the bus," said Steve MacLean, deputy minister of transportation and public works, at a media briefing Wednesday.

Corrosion was found in the sills, cross bars and floor mounts for the seats.

All of the province's older buses, 104 of the 320 vehicles, were being pulled off the road Wednesday. Students who had been dropped off at school already would be shuttled back home using newer buses and could expect long delays.

On Thursday and Friday, students will have to find their own way to get to and from school, as all 320 buses will be off the road.

Disruption could be long term

Sixteen of 20 older buses inspected were corroded to the point their structural integrity was in question. (CBC)

"The buses will not run until we are satisfied with the results of the completed inspections. At the same time, we feel it is important for classes to continue," Gerard Greenan, minister of education and early childhood development, said in a statement.

"We regret the inconvenience this may cause for parents, but we know that this is what parents would want, and they will appreciate the reasons behind it."

Ninety per cent of the province's 21,000 students are eligible for busing.

The province recently took delivery of 24 new school buses that are not yet in service.

The Department of Education hopes those new buses will help return service to near normal on Monday, but there is the potential for long-term disruptions to bus service.

Cancellation of schools considered

Sandy MacDonald, Eastern School District superintendent, said he is aware cancelling the buses for Thursday and Friday will cause significant disruption, and there was discussion about cancelling school those two days.

"But we've lost a lot of days because of storms this year, and we don't like to cancel school unless we have to," said MacDonald.

"It's hard enough to be able to say to parents we can't transport your child to school, and we know some parents won't be able to get their children there. Hopefully we'll be able to help at the school level or even the board level with that."

MacDonald said the schools will try to help students who miss the two days.