Humber College to close commercial truck driving program
Humber College will be shutting down its Commercial Truck Driving Program at the end of this year, citing changing market conditions that have made the program unsustainable.
The program, which has trained Ontario’s commercial truck drivers for more than 30 years, will officially close on Dec. 31, 2024, Humber’s communications director Emily Milic said in an email to TruckNews.com.
“Due to ongoing enrollment challenges in a highly competitive landscape, Humber Polytechnic has made the difficult decision to close the commercial truck driving program,” she said. “Market conditions have changed along with a significant increase in program delivery costs, and it is no longer feasible to offer this program.”
In a related statement, Humber College acknowledged the contributions of its staff and instructors, praising their passion and commitment to transportation training. “It is because of your dedication that Humber was able to provide a positive commercial truck driving experience to so many learners over the years,” the statement read.
Several Ontario colleges still provide truck driving and air brake Z endorsement training, including:
- Fanshawe College, London, Ont.
- Northern College, Timmins, Ont.
- Durham College, Oshawa, Ont.
- Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
- Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont.
- St. Lawrence College, Cornwall, Ont.
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If you ask me, they should do it like they do trade schooling in Germany, where the government pays all of it.
Or like in Switzerland, or in the Nordic countries etc.
We are supposed to be a Country with a good social system, but we are not.
For somebody to have an idea how they do it in Europe you have to go there visit and talk to all the vocational schools and the people that get trained in those countries for free pretty much.
Things have gotten complicated quite a bit lately and the cost of getting your commercial AZ license is getting out of control.
No one should be paying $15,000 and more to just get a AZ license.
They are doing it right talking about Humber College here, but it is overpriced.
The rest of us that have been in the industry for close to 30 years in the same Area in Ontario, we know what’s going on and why certain things are happening.
The biggest beef I have with trucking industry is deregulation in 1981.
From there, everything went downhill
Including the reputable colleges that give you possibly the best training to get a commercial drivers license.
Thank you to Humber College for the many years of service to our industry. You have been a “good” competitor and it is unfortunate we have seen the influx of many poor training facilities pop up in Ontario.
To all of the good ones, stay strong, work hard, form great relationships and good things will happen.
Hi-these minimal courses are not the answer to driver training,all trades have a 3 to 5 year program as trucking has not established a serious course in 40 years! WHY? Look forward to hearing from you on this topic. – thanks
Tough on the College. Humbers program was highly regarded and a gold standard in the industry
It is unfortunate to see Humber closing,I have no idea what the cost of the program there was but I would be very interested in seeing the stats on drivers coming out of that program as opposed to the ones coming out of these mills that churn out a graduate class every two weeks.I would be willing to bet that the preparedness to do the job and accident free status of Humber graduates would absolutely dwarf the rate from the Brampton schools.It is no secret within the industry that these schools keep notes of which test centres are easiest to get through and they will tailor the applicant to the easiest spot.Bad enough we are sending Melt Grads out after the supposed minimum to haul loads through Northern Ontario and the Mountains of BC on some of the most dangerous roads in North America but from what I have seen we have no reason to believe they are even receiving those minimum hours.Sad that some people are turning trucking in to the modern day slave trade for their personal gain.
Everyone knows who and where the schools are that are cheap, undercutting the industry and producing bad results. It’s not a secret, and the government needs to stop tiptoeing, playing to sensitivities and just go after them already. Any school offering a MELT program for under $6000 needs to be first on the list for investigation.
The first question anyone has when they call to find out about a truck driving license is not what is in the program, not how long it takes, not about success rates, but how much does it cost. As soon as you tell them, they say it’s too much and that other schools have offered cheaper…then hang up the phone.
… Many of those same people end up calling back months later saying they paid the cheaper tuition fee at another school couldn’t pass the road test. They then paid the same school more for more lessons and road tests. Still couldn’t pass and now that they are out of money and are calling the successful schools to try and get taught properly but don’t want to pay what it costs. They admit that majority of the lessons they received from the cheap schools were group lessons, multiple people in one truck. Lessons were 30-45min, meaning each person gets only a few minutes physically behind the wheel each. Many of the lessons were in they yard, they barely had any actual time in the road maneuvering in traffic.
The ones that do pass from the cheap schools are questionable too. It’s been rumoured in the industry for a long time that some Examiners get bribes. Now with the recent CBC Marketplace expose the world can see it’s not just rumors, it’s true.
Then an even deeper investigation into many of the trucking companies who hire the students from these schools. They are connected to the cheap schools and have an endless supply of truck drivers willing to work endlessly, breaking HOS rules most times and other regulations all for pennies…most times for immigration documents to live and work in Canada and bring their families over. So the fact that they are barely making money and are infact bringing down the wages of all other truck drivers in Canada means nothing to them.
To many skilled drivers, some who were long haul truckers for almost a decade hauling loads throughout Europe, seeing all the climates and landscapes it has to offer which are comparable to North American landscapes and weather conditions, they know they have to go through the entire MELT program to get the same license here, but the news about the situation has travelled around the truckers circles worldwide:
1. You will have to pay up to $10,000. As no one has that type of money laying around, they will have to take out loans and pay them back with interest.
2. Reputable trucking companies want a bare minimum of 1 year CANADIAN commercial driving experience. So how will they get employed to pay back this massive debt and how will they get any experience if no one will hire them? To be frank, I also have some big questions and concerns about the more reputable schools to who have arrangements with trucking companies to hire their students. There is something off about the idea and I feel like although it helps the school with enrollment, this seems off for the student. Moreover, …
3. If they do get hired.. because the insurance on a new driver is so high and because of so many shady trucking companies undercutting the transport industry where even long established companies who are reputable, have well maintained fleets and value and pay their drivers for their work say they simply can not offer clients the prices the shady trucking companies do because they’d go bust… As a result where a tractor trailer driver used to take in $8,000 – $10,000 per month in Ontario now they’d be lucky to bring in $4,000 – $6,000.
So back to the difficulty with enrollment mentioned. Go into debt, dedicate 3 months of your life, get constantly rejected by decent companies due to not have sufficient CANADIAN truck driving experience and in they end spend your life on the road while bringing home to the family a measley $5,000 per month?
They could spend only a couple grand, one month get a DZ license where they’d be home every night and make the same income if not more during peak season.
Because of the cheap schools (we know who and where they are) more rumours going around now that getting an AZ license is going to be made more difficult. Meaning instead of getting to the root of the problem, cutting out the cancer, they are just going to as even more regulations.
1. Operating costs for schools will go up, more reputable commercial driving schools will be forced to close down just like Humber did because they just won’t be able to compete or entice people to sink so far into debt.
2. Criminals will be criminals, always. The cheap bad schools will always find ways to circumvent, or “handle” any new regulations or processes thrown at them. Right now, many of the cheap ones have an entire team dedicated to simply keeping the paperwork and records in check. So just doing an audit of their records would be a wild waste of time and money. Only, undercover investigations, a secret shopper type approach can catch these shady dealings and bring the entire trucking industry back up from its knees.
I am livid with what is happening in the industry. I have seen the changes from the 90’s, early 2000’s and now. If we don’t start calling a Spade a Spade, be prepared to just say good bye to it all.
We all know where the problem is. Many of us have seen the progression to where it is now and have stayed silent.
Stop being silent, call it out and save the industry.
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Now tell us how you really feel ! This is a topic that most everyone in trucking has an opinion. Those opinions run from good to bad and often are highly opinionated. I’ve run State schools, Commercial schools and corporate programs. It’s not how much the schooling cost or how short or long the program is but rather what actually goes on. Training today is better than it’s ever been thanks to materials available to teach someone. It’s also easier to get a tractor trailer license as many fleets are going to automatic transmissions so one of the more difficult and time consuming training subjects and skills has been eliminated. Training and driving has seemingly always been a “supply and demand” issue coupled with “what’s this going to cost me” whether you are the fleet or the driver involved. The big fleet’s that are self insured have a tremendous say in the truck driver training world but not the only word. Publications like this and involved or interested individuals like those responding here do a great service of shining a light on the topic. Sorry to see the college close its program but I don’t know the whole story. It does sound like there are still options in the area for those who desire training but at what cost or quality. Same issues here in the states.
After seeing the CBC documentary about commercial driving schools and how they can skirt the law and pass out licenses to those who could not pass a written or driver’s test , it should be mandatory that government colleges should be the only one allowed to train commercial drivers . I have had my Class AZ for 43 years and I can’t believe how poorly our new drivers do on the road . No regard for safety of anyone or anything , feet up on the dash , on the phone or otherwise distracted . It’s a disgrace to our profession .
Is it shutting down because of the federal cut-back on international students? The reputation of Humber College is good as a truck driver training school, but the cost is outrageous! Spending more than $10K out of pocket is a big ask. What was the placement rate for new grads? How much were they making after 1 year, 2 years etc. as a truck driver. These vital stats are missing so it makes it hard to judge if you are getting good value for your money. As others have pointed out, we need to have more of an apprenticeship type set-up to train truckers.
Am interested in trucking
This was a very good product and a example of how to do it correctly. The private schools were doing it for half the price. It is a shame the ont gov or the some of the money from the carbon tax could not be used to keep it going. Less truck driver demand is a major factor along with difficulty in insurance for small fleets for new drivers because of things like market place program in my opinion.