Data analysis and visuals for NYCC 6.9.22 'Oversight - School Bus Transportation Services' hearing.
An associated webpage for this analysis can be found on the council website:
Students throughout New York City, especially students with disabilities, rely on a fleet of thousands of school buses to arrive safely at school in the morning and at home each evening. But when school buses are delayed, break down, or become stuck in traffic, a host of logistical and safety concerns result. Students miss important class time and may be delayed for extended periods while the source of the delay is resolved.
On November 21, 2022, the Oversight & Investigations and Education committees, chaired by Council Members Gale Brewer and Rita Joseph, respectively, held a joint oversight hearing to examine the many issues that affect students who rely on school bus service.
The data team analyzed bus breakdown and delay data in order to:
- Assess the severity of the problem
- Identify the most common reasons for bus delays
- Identify bus delay trends by the type of busing route
- Release recommendations for better reporting
- The beginning of the school year, September and October months, has consistently been the point of time where school bus delays are generally the greatest and longest.
- For this year, there were a total of 22,347 delays that were on average 40 minutes long, while last year, there were 14,783 delays that were on average 36 minutes long.
- Although school bus delays due to ‘heavy traffic’ make up 61% of all delays since September 2017, school bus delays due to ‘problem runs’ have had the longest average delay times.
- Special Ed delays are on average 17% longer than general ed delays
In 2019, the Council passed the Student Transportation Oversight Package (“STOP”). The package includes bills focused on strengthening oversight and increasing safety measures on the Department of Education’s school bus system.
In response to the STOP package, DOE began the Student Transportation Modernization Plan, a phased approach that will eventually allow OPT to track every bus, every driver, and every student in real-time. The Modernization Plan may decrease delays and will mitigate their impact on families by providing up-to-the-minute information.
DOE’s legal deadline to provide real-time GPS data on students’ bus rides to parents and guardians was September 2019.
But, that mandate still has not been met.