School bus horror stories continue to emerge ahead of a key vote Wednesday on a contract extension for companies responsible for transporting many of the 150,000 New York City students who rely on yellow buses.
The Panel for Educational Policy's vote comes after an agreement with school bus companies that averted a system shutdown last month. But it’s unlikely the new deal will usher in immediate reform of the city’s dysfunctional and notoriously unreliable school bus service, which is used by students with disabilities in particular.
Parents told Gothamist that even amid heightened scrutiny of school buses in recent months, service has been marred by the same long-standing problems.
Parent Chris Van Dyke said his 16-year-old son’s school bus was involved in a crash last month, which he only learned about after his son texted from Elmhurst Hospital.
“What I find crazy is we were never informed at any point during the entire day – and actually never since – by anyone at the [bus] company at all,” he said. “We got a text from our son who said we have to get him a taxi because the bus was in an accident.”
Van Dyke said he had to deduce where doctors were treating his son, who is a junior in high school and has a reading disability.
“I only knew to go to Elmhurst Hospital because I could figure out that's what my dyslexic teen meant when he typed ‘Elmer’ on his phone,” Van Dyke said.
His son and other kids on the bus were not injured. Van Dyke said the bus driver had crashed into an open car door and slammed on the brakes. Students were taken to the hospital as a precaution. Van Dyke said he recently received a bill for nearly $1,500 for his son’s ambulance ride to the hospital.
Parents have long complained about unreliable school bus service.
Bess Rothenberg, who also has a son on the same bus, said the incident highlighted a persistent lack of communication from the company. “They don’t give me any info,” she said. “It’s a crapshoot every year whether they answer their phones.”
She said the company should be held accountable.
“The matrons and the driver are poorly paid and have hard jobs. This isn’t about them," Rothenberg said.
In response to questions about the incident from Gothamist, Logan Bus Co. Inc. said it followed all the protocols for contacting parents, the school and the education department.
"We would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to make sure their contact information is updated frequently because that will help with any notifications," company spokesperson Rich Bamberger said.
Education department officials said Logan was issued a violation for its lack of communication with parents.
“Ensuring that all our students, particularly our most vulnerable ones, have safe and reliable transportation is a priority,” said education department spokesperson Dominique Ellison. “We take all reports seriously, will continue to hold our vendors accountable, and most importantly, ensure that all students arrive safely at their destinations, anything less is unacceptable."
In a separate ordeal, Francelly Rodriguez said the city had failed to provide school bus service so far this year to her 8-year-old brother Dylan, who has severe disabilities and lives in the Bronx.
Rodriguez testified at a hearing on school bus problems in late October, detailing her repeated complaints to the education department.
“They said there's no bus drivers on his route and that there is a bus driver shortage,” she said. “He’s just bound to regress … and it stresses the family out because there's nothing we really can do about it.”
Maria Fazio, a teacher, watches her son's school bus trip along what she calls the "cursed route."
After questions from Gothamist last week, the education department said Dylan Rodriguez has now been assigned a bus that will begin taking him to school on Thursday.
In September, Gothamist reported that the city’s data on school bus delays appeared to not capture a significant number of delays.
Fed up with the dysfunctional system, families and advocates have zeroed in on the city’s contracts with bus companies as leverage to improve service through tighter requirements and tougher penalties.
Contracts with the largest bus companies are 46 years old and have not been overhauled for decades. Those contracts expired over the summer, and the city has been extending them on a temporary basis in hopes of eventually negotiating new terms.
City officials have said they would like to rewrite the contracts, but need a legislative fix from lawmakers in Albany addressing job protection requirements for drivers in order to do so. The provision preserves school bus drivers’ wages and benefits by prioritizing current drivers in hiring and new routes.
In the meantime, parents and advocates have pressured city officials to hold off on any long-term extensions.
Last month school bus companies threatened to halt service on Nov. 1, saying the frequent contract extensions had created instability that made it impossible to cover costs.
The bus companies and the city avoided a shutdown at the last minute when the companies agreed to sign a three-year agreement this month.
Greg Faulkner, chair of the Panel for Educational Policy, which oversees contracts, said panelists will vote on that contract on Wednesday. He said the deal should give state lawmakers enough time to address the seniority provision while the next mayoral administration works out the terms of new agreements. “There are legitimate concerns,” he said. “The bus companies have heard us, they’ve said the desire to work with the panel. We’re going to hold them to that.”
He said the panel was exploring new ways to monitor performance going forward.
Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, said the nonprofit is constantly fielding complaints about buses. “There’s plenty of blame to go around but what’s clear is that extending the 46-year-old bus contracts again and again is not serving our students,” she said. “Now, the incoming administration must move forward to ensure new, improved bus service is in place by the time the next extension expires.”
