Parents, teachers and councilors press BPS on chronic bus delays as administration pledges enforcement and fixes

Boston City Councilors and dozens of parents pressed Boston Public Schools leaders on March 30 over chronic school bus delays that families say are depriving students of instruction and destabilizing household schedules.

"This past year has been the worst by far in relation to buses being late or canceled," said Lori Murphy, a Rosendale parent, testifying during the committee's public-comment period. Parents, teachers and advocates described individual routes with repeated cancellations, students missing morning ASL instruction at Horace Mann, and families paying out of pocket for alternate transport.

Councilor Erin Murphy, the lead sponsor of docket 0374, framed the hearing as an equity issue driven by an increase in both the frequency and severity of failures. "Families, educators, and community members continue to report transportation failures after affecting schools across multiple neighborhoods," she said in opening remarks, noting BPS provides daily transportation for roughly 20,000 students.

BPS Transportation Director Dan Rosengard told the committee that the system serves about 625 buses and roughly 19,000 students daily and highlighted overall measures of progress: "So far in March, OTP has returned to high levels, averaging 93% in the morning and 88% in the afternoon for March." He acknowledged, however, a troubling rise in uncovered trips beginning in December and described immediate steps the district and its vendor have taken, including route consolidation, additional driver hiring and on-site vendor leadership.

Families at the hearing recounted harms to students and caregivers. "When buses arrive late or they don't arrive at all, the students start their day already interrupted," said Marie Francis Rivera, a BPS parent. Parents of students with IEPs described missed mandated services; a Horace Mann teacher wrote in testimony that a deaf student waited hours for a bus and missed an entire day of specialized instruction, adding that, "Under Individuals with disabilities education act, transportation is a mandated ... related service." (written testimony read into the record)

Councilors pressed BPS on accountability and contract enforcement. Several asked whether the district had been issuing contract penalties to Transdev, the vendor that operates the yellow-bus service. Rosengard confirmed the contract includes liquidated damages of $500 for any trip that is uncovered or runs more than an hour late and said the district notified the vendor in February that it would begin assessing penalties "for March and going forward." He also reported the district saw 3,171 uncovered trips out of 361,060 scheduled trips this year (about 0.9%), higher than recent-year averages near 0.2%.

Counselors called for more transparency and additional metrics. Councilor Murphy asked whether transportation delays correlate with chronic absenteeism; BPS said a cross-analysis found no significant statistical correlation but emphasized that the district still wants to add "family experience" measures to better capture the burden borne by households forced to arrange alternative transportation.

Beyond data and fines, the hearing identified operational causes the administration said it is addressing: driver shortages, the route-bidding process that can concentrate failures on certain routes, mechanical breakdowns and occasional device/trackers failing to transmit. Councilors also raised school-specific problems — Council President Braden pointed to Edison as an outlier with an uncovered-rate well above the district average and average delays he said can exceed 36 minutes on impacted routes.

In response to calls for relief for families, Rosengard said reimbursement is available for families of students with disabilities who transport their child when a bus is uncovered or significantly late, and that language-access supports exist for families needing help applying. The panel said it would compile additional requested data for the council, including long‑range plans for the fleet and more granular route-level metrics.

Chair Jugga Mejia closed the session by keeping docket 0374 in committee and announcing she will convene a follow-up hearing before the end of the school year to review progress and outstanding questions.

The committee did not adopt any formal ordinance or disciplinary action during the hearing; BPS said it has already begun assessing liquidated damages and is pursuing immediate operational steps while continuing longer-term changes to route assignments and vendor oversight.