White Plains board hears update from Durham on bus operations, stop-arm camera citations

Durham School Services and White Plains City School District officials gave the Board of Education an update Oct. 6 on transportation operations, including route changes, a new stop‑arm camera program and the district’s Bus Tracker app.

Board members heard that district and Durham staff have made “corrective action” changes to routes over the past month to improve efficiency and reliability as the school year began. Durham representatives said the company operates at least 100 buses for the district, with more than 100 drivers, 25 monitors and 16 full‑time mechanics and support staff assigned locally.

The update matters because tens of thousands of vehicle miles and hundreds of student trips depend on the contractor’s performance. “We’re in a much different place today than we were at our last Board of Education meeting with regards to transportation, efficiency, customer service, and making sure literally that the routes are running as close to optimal as possible,” a district staff member told the board.

Durham’s John Ziegler, director of business development for the East, described the vendor’s footprint and local operations. He said Durham’s White Plains operation averages roughly 5,300 miles per day and supports about 700 student services (not every student is transported every day) using a fleet that includes large buses and smaller vans. Ziegler said Durham’s area general manager, Sean Martin, and on‑site staff are checking in frequently and working with the district on troubleshooting.

Stop‑arm cameras and early citation totals

The board was given preliminary results from a stop‑arm camera warning period run in partnership with the city and Bus Patrol. A district staff member reported that during the warning period through Sept. 30, Bus Patrol recorded 634 approved citations tied to stop‑arm violations in White Plains; 208 citations were pending and 425 citations had already been mailed. The district said the official enforcement phase has begun now that the warning period has ended, and staff plan to track citations across the academic year and report back.

“We will keep collecting these data throughout the course of the academic year,” the district staff member said. The board and Durham discussed that each recorded incident is reviewed; incidents where a bus pulled over for a mechanical issue or student illness may be rejected during review if timing shows no violation occurred.

Bus Tracker app performance and substitutions

John Ziegler also addressed the Bus Tracker application used by families. “The Bus Tracker app is up and running,” he told the board, adding that while the vendor aims for reliable service, fleet substitutions (for example when a bus is taken out of service for preventive maintenance and a substitute vehicle is used) can cause temporary mismatches in the app until route assignments are updated.

Durham said it has been troubleshooting parent reports and that many issues were one‑off problems now resolved; staff encouraged families to use the app’s support function to generate a help ticket so Durham or district transportation staff can respond.

Driver safety and yellow flashers

Board members raised concerns about buses stopped with yellow flashers on for an extended period and whether that could confuse motorists. Durham and district staff explained that drivers sometimes pull over with yellow flashers if a student is ill, there is a mechanical concern, or a behavioral issue requires immediate attention. Staff said each citation is time‑reviewed and that instances where a motorist passed the bus before the stop arm extended would not result in a mailed citation.

Next steps

No formal board action was taken on transportation at the Oct. 6 meeting. District and Durham representatives said they will continue daily operational coordination, collect and report citation and app‑performance data across the year, and return to the board with summary results at a later date.