Parents in Ajax are frustrated over a change to a school bus route that has their children spending over two hours on the road every day. They say their kids come home exhausted and it is affecting other areas of their lives. Ryan Scouller said his son no longer wants to participate in extracurricular activities.“This morning he told me he got five hours of sleep last night which is not enough for a teenage boy of 14 so its really hurting him,” said Scouller. “On the weekend, he sleeps significantly longer to make up for it since he’s so exhausted after five days of this.”Last year, CityNews reported on this same bus route. Adjustments were made to cut the ride down to 40 to 50 minutes so parents don’t understand why that had to change going into this school year.They estimate 40 to 50 students who attend a special education program with a unique start time are impacted.“He’s a teenager and the school already starts early at 8 a.m. so he has to be on the bus before 7,” said Scouller.In a statement, Durham Student Transportation Services echoed that the route change is due to specialized programming at Pickering High School.“A limited number of students from south Ajax attend specialized programming at Pickering High. Durham Student Transportation Services (DSTS) remains committed to providing safe and efficient transportation services for all eligible students and regularly review available options to reduce ride times, including on the route from south Ajax to Pickering High School,” read the statement.But parents involved say they have been trying to get answers on how the route is evaluated, including Christine Keens.“It shouldn’t take us reaching out to all kinds of different people and try to get a response. We’re begging for something to be done and barely getting acknowledged, that’s not okay,” said Keens.Myrna Simpson has twins in Gr. 11 who both ride the bus every day. She said the commute is taking a toll on their mental health. “They are in a special education program and they are a vulnerable group of kids. A lot of them learning disabilities and disorders,” explained Simpson.“The vast majority of students that ride Durham Student Transportation Services have bus times of or bus ride times of under 20 minutes and only 0.2 percent of DSTS ridership has a bus ride time of more than 60 minutes,” she added.Liberal MPP for Ajax Rob Cerhanex said he shared the parents’ concerns and has been advocating for the students. In a statement, he tells CityNews, “The underlying issue is that the provincial government does not fund student transportation to the level that’s needed so school boards are making tough decisions and that falls on parents and students to bear the brunt.”One parent tells CityNews that she will continue to push for answers and will be contacting the Ministry of Education to see what they might be able to do to change the route.