Carranza sorry for bus delays
City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said he’s sorry to city families who were stranded and delayed in the city’s yellow bus crisis, as complaints spiked again at the end of the second week of the new school year.
“I want to apologize to my families and our students,” Carranza said in Manhattan on Friday.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable the transportation issues we’ve had this year,” he added.
Carranza also vowed to address the problems and have a better go of it at the start of the next school year which is when busing problems are most acute.
As of Thursday, the city’s busing complaint line was flooded with calls, receiving 76,223 in the first five days of school, compared with 57,575 calls last year.
An online tally published by the city showed at least 1,010 yellow bus delays and other problems with school buses on Friday alone, as families reported no-shows and late buses.
Many complaints came from school District 30 in central Queens where the contracted Grandpa’s Bus Co. has been accused of leaving students stranded for hours.
Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said if there are no-shows on any Grandpa’s routes on Monday morning, those routes will be reassigned to another company.
“Office of Pupil Transportation staff are in constant, direct contact with families and companies, and service is improving,” Barbot said. “We will continue working on this throughout the weekend.”
A Grandpa’s spokesman said that company’s buses were ahead of schedule Friday and all made it to their respective schools.