Thousands of New York City students with disabilities are at risk of being stranded without a yellow bus at the start of the upcoming school year, the Daily News has learned.
“Due to a shortage of available school bus vendors and increased transportation needs, some yellow bus routes may not have a vendor available to operate the route at the start of the school year,” read a recent email from the New York City public school system’s student transportation office to principals, obtained by the Daily News.
Nearly 200 yellow bus routes appear to be impacted, serving more than 2,000 students whose special education plans mandate transportation services, including kids at state-approved private schools who receive bus service through the public schools, according to Advocates for Children of New York, which has been in communication with the school system about the looming crisis.
Dominique Ellison, a spokeswoman for the public schools, did not provide the school system’s internal data, but said they’re working to resolve the issue: “We anticipate a vast majority of students will be routed by the first day of school.”
The first day of public school is Thursday, Sept. 10.
“Leaving thousands of students with disabilities without a bus for the start of the school year is not only unacceptable but illegal,” said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children.
“Students with the most intensive needs placed in schools farthest from where they live are most likely to be left stranded. While working to fix our broken school bus system, the city needs an emergency plan to ensure all students can get to school this week.”
It’s not unusual for families to experience unreliable school bus service on the first day of school — with delays, no-shows and unassigned routes all common as the pupil transportation office works to resolve lingering problems at the start of the school year.
But this year’s bus shortage marks the second time in as many years that transportation issues threatened to upend the back-to-school season. At the end of last summer, members of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy refused to rubber-stamp a five-year contract extension with the bus vendors, jeopardizing service for the first day of school. The PEP later approved a three-year extension in an effort to work toward more lasting reforms, which require approval from Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature, sooner than in a half a decade.
For now, school officials said the plan is to provide the students with prepaid rideshare, according to the Office of Pupil Transportation’s memo to principals.
While parents and advocates strongly agree that’s better than no transportation at all, the arrangement requires parents and caregivers to accompany their children to and from school, which may not be feasible for some working families.
The city’s $2.2 billion student transportation system is based on a network of private bus companies that contract with the school system to provide vehicles and drivers.
Advocates say part of the problem is that vendors select their own routes, and it’s harder to find contractors to operate longer routes — like the ones special education students are too often forced to endure to get to a school that can accommodate their disabilities.
“Without the school bus, my son would not be able to get to school,” said Rosemary Alejo, a Manhattan parent whose son, 14, attends a private school with specialized reading and behavioral services and bus transportation through the public schools. “He goes to school in New Jersey. And so, I can maybe take him one day, but it’s not something I can do all the time.”
Her son’s first day of school is even earlier than that of the public schools — on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
“Transportation should never be a barrier to education — that is why we are working quickly to route every student as quickly as possible,” said Ellison, the schools spokeswoman. “Over the next few weeks, any family currently waiting for a route will hear directly from their school to ensure they have all they need to get to school safely, including free prepaid rideshare options for any child who needs it.”
Beyond rideshare, education officials said they’re working with the bus companies to expedite route assignments, as well as driver hiring and onboarding. But Ellison added the problem is bigger than any one school year, and officials are looking to improve career pipelines and expand bus fleets.
“Delays in route assignments have long been a concern for the city,” Ellison said, “and so while we work to ensure a smooth first day of school, we are also looking to tackle longstanding issues.”