The Buffalo Board of Education voted 8–1 on June 18 to adopt a resolution aimed at optimizing school transportation for Buffalo Public School (BPS) students, asking the state to ease rules that limit use of small vehicles and directing staff to pursue tiered routing agreements with charter and nonpublic schools and to study advanced routing tools, including artificial intelligence.

Board President Cathy Evans Brown said the resolution addresses persistent late arrivals, uncovered routes and long run times that the district has experienced. The action asks the New York State Department of Transportation to consider regulatory flexibility for small-vehicle, non-CDL drivers and asks the district to work with charter and nonpublic schools on tier assignments that prioritize BPS students.

The board’s transportation committee, chaired by Board Member Larry Scott, presented background showing that roughly 35 percent of bus runs occur at nonstandard start and end times—often driven by schedules for charter and nonpublic schools—lengthening runs and increasing dead time. Chief Operating Officer David Hills provided operational detail during committee discussions and at the meeting: the district extends service below the state reimbursable distance and currently busses students who live between 0.7 and 1.5 miles from school under the board’s local policy, a practice that is not reimbursed by the state.

During debate, trustees added a staff directive asking district transportation to “investigate the use of artificial intelligence in designing routes and interrogating route performance,” reflecting concerns that manual routing may leave inefficiencies on the table. The amendment was accepted and included in the adopted resolution.

The board discussed outreach to charter and nonpublic schools so any changed routing or tiering would be coordinated; the resolution asks staff to lead those conversations after board adoption. The vote count shown in the meeting record was 8 in favor, 1 opposed.

The resolution directs a mix of advocacy (requesting state regulatory changes), local negotiation (tier work with charter/nonpublic operators) and a district operational study (AI and other routing performance analysis). It does not itself change routes, stop/start distances, or funding; it asks staff and outside partners to pursue the options described and to report back to the board.

The board’s action follows repeated public comments during the meeting about late or missing bus service and driver shortages. The transportation committee and district staff said they will return with additional operational analysis and, if appropriate, recommended next steps for implementing tiering, regulatory requests, or procurement of routing technology.