Close to 150,000 New York City students could lose school bus service next month if operators follow through on a threat to yank drivers off the job over a bitter contract impasse, according to a formal warning filed Monday.
The private school bus companies notified the New York State Department of Labor that, if a citywide education panel does not approve their contract extension, they would be forced to lay off 12,000 unionized drivers and attendants at the end of the business day on Oct. 31.
Absent a long-term agreement, the bus vendors have been operating on emergency extensions, and the Panel for Educational Policy was planning to take the latest extension up in November. Members have been doing so every two months since the last renewal expired over the summer.
“Their threat to withhold service is really trying to hold us hostage,” said Greg Faulker, chair of the city’s school board.
The dustup comes against the backdrop of parents and advocates pushing for greater accountability. At issue are long-standing concerns over the city’s $1.9-billion school transportation system, which relies on a byzantine network of contracted bus operators to shuttle students — many of whom have disabilities or are living in homeless shelters — to and from school.
Horror stories abound. At the start of each school year, families overwhelm the school transportation office’s call center with reports of bus delays and no-shows. Some students have been forced to miss school, or are excluded from after-school or summer programming after the buses stop running for the day.
“We hear from hundreds of families every year,” said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children of New York.
It’s a problem that impacts working parents especially hard, if they’re forced to pick up or drop off their kids: “We hear from families who are scrambling to keep their jobs because of inconsistent bus service,” Levine said.
City Hall and the city’s Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment. The topic has prompted countless research briefs and audits, news investigations, and City Council oversight hearings over the years.
Local education officials have lobbied New York lawmakers to change state law they say blocks them from competitively rebidding the contracts, most of which are almost a half-century old. The Legislature passed such a measure before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now an independent candidate for mayor.
The latest contract proposal — negotiated for about a year and agreed to by the Adams administration and the bus operators — would extend the deal by five years and make some changes, such as improved GPS service and call-center bandwidth for parents to track their children and speak with a representative. The proposal also invests in minority- and women-owned businesses, electric vehicles, and worker training.
But the deal falls short of the system-wide change advocates say is needed and requires approval from the Panel for Educational Policy, which has opted instead for short-term emergency extensions while it asks parents and experts for feedback.
“[My friend] came to me one day and he said, Greg, I don’t know where my son is,” Faulkner recalled.
“What do you mean you don’t know where your son is?” Faulkner said.
He later found out the boy, who has a “serious” disability, was on a bus ride home diverted to another borough for a few hours. “I’m thinking that’s a fluke … then I started hearing it’s common.”
The bus companies, at the request of First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, said they held off on notifying the Labor Department until the panel released a plan for its next meeting, on Oct. 29. The agenda did not include an extension, but a resolution on the panel’s opposition to a lengthy extension without changes to state law — prompting Monday’s filing.
The contractors said there will be no emergency extension in effect come Nov. 1 — though Faulkner told the Daily News that emergency and five-year bus contracts will come for a vote at next month’s meeting.
Even so, the bus companies insist stopgap measures are not a solution.
“Indefinite emergency extensions are unfeasible and impractical for transportation companies because these companies are labor intensive and utilize multi-year labor contracts,” wrote Sean Crowley, a lawyer at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP for the bus companies. “A five-year cycle is required to maintain labor stability and to underwrite the costs of both new buses and real estate needed to safely and properly operate these businesses.”
The school bus drivers union, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, threw its support behind the proposed five-year extension — but called on the city to resolve any outstanding issues.
“Put politics aside, the finger-pointing and let’s get serious,” Carolyn Rinaldi, vice president of the ATU, wrote in an email. “This is not just about contracts and logistics; it is about the students who depend on school bus service every day, AND the THOUSANDS of DEDICATED, PROFESSIONAL, school bus workers who SAFELY transport and CARE for New York City’s most precious cargo — our children.”
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