Education
Boston Public Schools fined bus contractor Transdev $10,500 for blown trips, adding to more than $400,000 in fines assessed last school year.
Parents at a Boston City Council education committee hearing began to grow restless and murmur to one another just after 3 p.m. Monday.
One parent’s child didn’t get off at the right bus stop. Another parent’s five-year-old child was let off too early and walked the street without an adult. One bus ran behind schedule, and, on another bus, the driver had not logged onto Zūm, a real-time bus tracking software.
The hearing was scheduled to address chronic problems with Boston Public School buses, and the scene of confusion and worry on the chamber floor was a microcosm of those same problems.
“This is a daily occurrence for BPS families,” Councilor Ed Flynn told Boston.com after the hearing. “It’s unfair to them. It’s unfair to the taxpayers. We’re paying $200 million for a broken and failed system.”
Throughout the three-hour hearing, parents and councilors described a bus system rife with inaccurate tracking, delays, unsafe bus stops, a lack of bus monitors, and poor responsiveness.
“When you become a parent, it’s like your heart leaves your body and walks around the world separately from you,” Mira Goto, one of the parents, told Boston.com. “I’m always going to worry about my children, but certainly at school we really shouldn’t have to.”
BPS has contracted with Transdev, a global private bus operator, since 2013 and started a new five-year contract in 2023. Transdev buses serve more than 18,000 students across 609 routes, according to the school district.
Dan Rosengard, BPS transportation director, and James Folk, Transdev general manager, said they were “humbled” by testimonies during the hearing. But they pointed to improved metrics in timeliness and uncovered trips to show the progress made.
“Looking at the numbers that we’ve seen over the last few years and so far this year, we are proud of the continued progress,” Rosengard said during the hearing. “We also know that the job is not done yet by any means.”
Transdev takes a $125 million bite out of BPS’s $200 million transportation budget. But, as the city invests more into the schools’ transportation budget, councilors say the results still aren’t there.
If it were up to Flynn, he said he would get rid of the contract with Transdev. When asked if that was feasible, he said it’s “worth investigating.”
“I believe we’re on the wrong track. I think the system is failing,” Flynn said during the hearing. “I’m embarrassed about this conversation we’re having today from BPS. I don’t think progress is not taking place, I know progress is not taking place.”
Over $10,000 in ‘blown trip’ fines
Last year, BPS began utilizing its contractual right to fine Transdev $500 for every “blown trip” — a trip in which the bus is more than an hour late or unassigned. BPS fined Transdev over $400,000 for buses that were late or did not show up between March and June, Rosengard said.
The bus system has recorded a total of 94 uncovered trips throughout the current school year — trips without a driver or vehicle available, Rosengard said. This figure is down more than 80 percent compared to the same time period last year, he added.
BPS continued to assess fines for these blown trips, with the total reaching $10,500 so far this year, Rosengard said.
Bus delays plague Boston Public Schools
BPS buses continue to fall short of their timeliness targets. The goal, as set forth in the city and district’s 2022 Systemic Improvement Plan, is for 95 percent of buses to arrive on time.
But, while the buses reached the target last June in a record-setting month, the buses failed to reach the target this year.
Data obtained by Boston.com in a public records request shows that 86 percent of buses were on time in the morning and 83 percent were on time in the afternoon during the first month of school. Rosengard said the bus on-time performance jumped to 91 percent in October.
In a statement to Boston.com, a BPS spokesperson wrote that the on-time performance is “one of the strongest starts on the district’s record.”
“This continued progress is a direct result of the reforms and system-wide improvements we have implemented over the past several years, including stronger contracts, improved staffing, and modernized technology,” the statement read in part.
Impact on parents and students
Graham, a sixth grader from Roxbury, testified about the “stress” involved with the bus problems. The student detailed the scramble to figure out a ride to school, the hunger after missing breakfast at school, and the feeling of missing out on socialization with classmates.
“It is very stressful because we don’t know what to do, and we’re scrambling to figure out how the kids are going to get to school,” Graham said.
Parents told stories of rushing to get a carpool organized, purchasing Uber rides to get their children to school, and risking their jobs to drive their children to school.
Councilor Erin Murphy said these delays are often an “equity” issue, since not all families have a backup plan. As student performance slips across the commonwealth, Councilor Liz Braedon added that the bus system is taking away instructional time.
Some parents said they wanted bus monitors on every bus as a way to ensure safety and keep track of who comes on and off. While every smaller, door-to-door bus has a monitor, not every large bus does, Rosengard said.
Other parents complained about constant issues with the Zūm tracking system. Several parents said they have bought Apple AirTags to keep tabs on their children in lieu of the app — something Murphy called “horrifying” for a school system with a $200 million transportation budget.
Goto, a first-year BPS parent, said she has lost trust in the buses and avoids putting her son on them, if possible. But the councilors’ advocacy for the parents made her “cautiously optimistic” about the future, she said.
“Change takes a while, so realistically, I don’t expect things to improve overnight, though that would be great,” Goto said. “But there are some categories that we want 100 percent, there’s no room for error, and that’s the safety of our kids.”
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