The report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation, a watchdog agency for the city’s public schools, said a bus operated by Consolidated Bus Transit was scheduled to arrive at a Brooklyn elementary school before 9 a.m.
on Dec. 16, but did not show up until 1:25 p.m. that day. Parents tried to track the bus’s winding route via AirTags placed in their children’s backpacks while school staff struggled to reach the bus company, the investigation found.
When the bus of 6- to 8-year-olds did arrive, one student was lying in a pool of urine, according to the report. It’s the latest in a string of incidents that have parents and regulators calling for urgent reforms to the city’s dysfunctional school bus system.
While the majority of New York’s students walk, drive or take public transit to school, about 155,000 rely on yellow buses. Half of those using the buses have disabilities.
Parents have long complained of delays, circuitous routes, broken GPS systems and unresponsive call center staff. They said improving the bus system will require passing legislation in Albany so the city can rebid and replace 45-year-old bus contracts with new contracts that add strict requirements for vendors and strengthen service for students.