Wu administration is steering Boston's school buses in the right direction
Now, though, data from the new bus-riding app Zum has enabled the city to more easily identify students who aren't riding the bus — and act on that data. Under
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That's a substantial number, considering that only about 17,000 BPS students rode the bus as of 2022 (the city also provides busing to some charter and private school students). District officials say that adjusting the routes will make the buses quicker and more punctual, bringing the district closer to meeting its target of 95 percent on-time performance.
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'The goal is not to take transportation away from anyone, the goal is to offer transportation they can count on,' said Jackie Hayes, the district's deputy director of transportation. Transportation costs about $180 million this year — which, by comparison, is larger than
Coming up with a way to flag no-shows, and adjust routes accordingly, was recommended in a 2022 consultants'
The number of students whose special education plans call for door-to-door bus service has increased by more than 50 percent over the last decade, according to the
The big picture here is that bus on-time rates have inched upward over the last few years — but not without substantial difficulty. In another reform recommended in the 2022 report, the city rearranged its school start times to make bus logistics easier. Better on-time rates means students getting more learning time with fewer interruptions, and less angst for parents and teachers.
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One of the most impactful remaining steps, though, might also be the hardest. The bus system's size and complexity is a reflection of how many schools the city still operates, despite its declining enrollment, coupled with a school assignment system that sometimes sends students far from home. That can lead to half-empty buses crisscrossing the city taking students to underenrolled schools.
As the city's
Improving the bus system certainly isn't the main reason the city should continue its ongoing efforts to reduce its physical size. The most important reason is that students benefit academically if they attend fully enrolled schools. Like school consolidation, the point of making the buses run more smoothly isn't solely to save money: It's to improve the quality of public education.
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