BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Public Schools parents are struggling with persistent transportation issues that have forced some to use all their paid time off work while waiting for late or missing school buses, nearly two months into the academic year.
Khadijah Hussein, a mother of two Buffalo Public Schools students, said her children have been picked up as late as 9:15 a.m. when their scheduled pickup time is 7:45 a.m. Her first-grade daughter and pre-K son have missed school the first part of school on some days when buses failed to show up.
"I don't think a child should be outside for more than 10-15 minutes waiting on the bus at all," Hussein said.
The delays have disrupted her children's education and caused financial strain for her family. Hussein said she and her husband have exhausted their paid time off waiting for buses that arrive late or not at all.
"She's going to school late. She's missing first period because she is an early start. So although she is young and she's only in first grade, I mean proper education starts very young and you need every bit of time for school," Hussein said.
Her pre-K son has also been affected by the unreliable service.
"He gets happy every morning going on a bus. He cried for three days this week because the bus just never showed up, and he told Grandma yesterday, 'I just need a new bus,'" Hussein said.
She even had to make continuous calls and left multiple voicemails after her kids' busses did not show up for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. She said even trying to track her kids' bus on the First View app, which launched in the district this school year, can be misleading because there are glitches.
"The person[First Student] who answered the phone admitted that you know drivers are not following the routes and that's why kids are not being picked up, so that's unacceptable," she explained.
Come Thursday, she told me the bus arrived.
Buffalo Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Louis Petrucci acknowledged the ongoing challenges at Thursday night's BPS Town Hall, citing the district's efforts to address the driver shortage.
"Some of the things we've done is this active recruiting, where we're ongoing. We tried to streamline the process by working with both the Erie County Clerk and the New York State Commissioner of Transportation, which has also been very helpful," Petrucci said. "We've brought in additional buses from some of our suburban counterparts that have also helped."
I reached out to BPS which released a statement saying it met with First Student, its bus provider, to discuss solutions:
We are committed to providing timely, safe, and dependable transportation to all of our BPS students. For that reason, we met a second time with First Student, our bus provider, last week to discuss solutions, including now bringing in buses from outside of the city to supplement the fleet of buses serving the Buffalo Public Schools. First Student is also still hiring and onboarding new bus drivers in an effort to improve the timeliness and dependability of their busses."
On background information:
Families seeking assistance with busing issues should contact us directly at 716-816-4895, and we encourage families to use the First View app to keep track of their student's yellow bus trips in real time.
The district is also required to allocate resources for the transportation of McKinney-Vento or foster care students who currently reside outside of the city of Buffalo and, in some instances, in other counties to and from school each day.
For more information about First Student's hiring efforts, please contact them directly 716-200-4763.
First View app found here: https://myfirstview.com.
First Student also issued a statement to me, acknowledging the challenges:
We understand the challenges and frustration families feel when transportation service issues occur. Our goal is always to ensure students are transported safely and as timely as possible.
Throughout the school year, our staffing levels in Buffalo have steadily improved. However, on days with higher-than-usual absences due to illness, we sometimes need to make operational adjustments to ensure every route is covered. While these adjustments can occasionally result in delays, they allow us to maintain service for all students.
Our focus remains on expanding our driver team to provide greater flexibility and reliability. We offer paid training, competitive starting wages of up to $31.00 per hour, and sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000. Anyone interested in making a difference in the community is encouraged to apply at workatfirst.com.
Despite the ongoing issues, Hussein remains hopeful that improvements will come soon for all students who depend on bus transportation.
"It's not a big deal to us, but some of these kids really look forward to getting on the bus, and they feel like a big boy and girl," Hussein said.
Parents who missed the recent town hall meeting can attend another session scheduled for November 13 at 5:30 p.m. at South Park High School PS-206. The town hall is part of BPS Superintendent Dr. Mubenga's 100-Day Plan for the district.
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