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Bus drivers and parents urge SFUSD not to replace school buses with vans or rideshare vehicles
Summary
Dozens of school bus drivers, union representatives and parents told the SFUSD board that using nonconforming vans or rideshare drivers for home-to-school routes would reduce safety, training and oversight; speakers urged the board to keep certified school buses and avoid splitting transportation contracts.
More than a dozen current and former SFUSD school bus drivers, union leaders and parents told the Board of Education they are alarmed by district plans that could allow standard vans or rideshare-style vehicles for home-to-school transport.
"Please, please reconsider your stance," Gail Flynn, a state-certified school-bus instructor, told the board, arguing that certified drivers complete a minimum of 40 hours of training and that non‑bus vehicles are not built or regulated the same way. Flynn and other drivers cited Title 13 maintenance standards, CHP and DMV oversight, and the stop-arm and amber-light protections that yellow school buses provide.
Jader (Jadar) Castano, chair of Local 1741, warned that dividing the contract and hiring lower-cost nonunion drivers could undermine prevailing wages and safety oversight and cited possible conflicts with state safety guidance. Several speakers recounted near-miss incidents they said illustrate why specialized training and bus design matter.
Parents and drivers raised child-seat and booster concerns for mixed vehicle types, the difficulty of enforcing consistent pre-trip inspections for many independent drivers, and the loss of a unified, experienced transportation workforce that many speakers said has safely served SFUSD for decades.
Board members heard requests to keep certified school buses for student routes, to avoid fragmenting contracts in ways that would invite nonconforming vehicles, and to ensure any contractor requirements maintain CHP/DMV compliance and prevailing-wage protections for drivers. District staff did not adopt a change at this meeting; the input was recorded as public comment for board consideration in procurement and contracting work.
Speakers who testified include Tammy Davidson, Gail Flynn, Shane Hoff, Jadar Castano, Jennifer Sargent, Laura Cappelletti, Jim Charis, Sherry Klein, Meg Feltz, Paul Stein and others representing drivers and Local 1741.
