Council hearing Monday on BPS buses, as on-time rates trail last year's and the district's 95% goal

Boston families who rely on yellow buses get a council hearing on Monday. The Committee on Education will hold a hearing Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. in the Iannella Chamber on how BPS transportation performed at the start of this school year, contractor accountability and corrective action (public notice). The public can testify in person or online.

The district carries more than 18,000 students on about 600 routes, WBUR reported. Late buses mean missed class time, and special education students and their families are hit hardest.

What the numbers show

• First day. 61% of morning buses arrived on time on Sept. 8, down from a record 66% on the first day last year, WBUR reported. Afternoon buses were 73% on time.
• First week. Buses were on time about 80% of the time over the first seven days, three points lower than the same stretch last year, Boston 25 reported.
• The target. The contract benchmark is 95%. The morning average last school year was 91%, according to WBUR.
• The contract. Transdev runs the buses under a five-year, $651 million contract that runs through July 2028. From March to June, the district fined Transdev $405,000 for late buses and uncovered routes, WBUR reported.

City Councilor Erin Murphy, the lead sponsor, told Boston 25 that "we need to do better than 80%" with a bus system that costs close to $200 million. She said the city may need to consider other contractors if service does not improve. In a statement to the station, BPS said it would keep monitoring on-time performance and push for continuous improvement.

What our records add

The order. Murphy filed docket 1920 on Oct. 5, and the council sent it to the Education Committee on Oct. 7. City Councilor Julia Mejia chairs that committee. Monday's hearing comes 26 days after the referral, which is quick by council standards. The order has nine sponsors: Murphy, Benjamin Jacob Weber, Brian Worrell, Ed Flynn, Enrique Pepén, Gabriela Coletta Zapata, John FitzGerald, Julia Mejia and Miniard Culpepper.

The earlier hearing. This is the council's second bus hearing this year. Murphy and Flynn's emergency hearing order on chronic bus delays and special education transportation failures (docket 0374) was filed in February and heard March 31 (meeting page). It has stayed in committee since, 261 days after it was referred. At that hearing, BPS transportation officials said they had told Transdev at the end of February that the district would assess liquidated damages for uncovered trips starting in March. They said the district had not done so before (watch at 1:27:34). The $405,000 in fines WBUR later reported covers March through June.

The money. The council approves a revolving fund each year that pays for BPS transportation costs, including bus and public transit costs. It approved the fiscal 2027 limit on June 10 (docket 0742).

What's next

The hearing is at 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. It will stream at boston.gov/city-council-tv and be recorded. Written testimony can go to the committee at ccc.education@boston.gov. A hearing order ends either with a report back to the full council or with the order staying in committee, as the March order has. The committee's next posted hearing, on Nov. 9, is Flynn's order on how BPS staff cuts affect students with disabilities (docket 1333).