Late buses cost some Boston students a week of class last year, WBUR data shows. Councilors raised several of the same schools

Students on Boston's latest school bus routes lost days of class time last year, according to a WBUR analysis of district records it obtained through a public records request. It ran the same day the City Council's Education Committee held its hearing on bus service. The analysis covers only late morning arrivals. It does not count the thousands of times a bus never showed up.

For families, the data turns district averages into named routes and schools. It also shows what students on the same bus miss, day after day: breakfast, the first lesson, and in spring, part of state testing days.

What WBUR found

• The worst route. One bus serving the James Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain arrived after the bell more than 150 times. Its riders lost up to 1,933 minutes, about a week of school. Nearly three dozen Curley routes were late almost 1,200 times combined.
• Other schools. A route to the Richard J. Murphy K-8 in Dorchester averaged about 27 minutes late for almost two weeks in September. A Warren-Prescott K-8 route in Charlestown was late in all 10 months. At the Thomas Edison School in Brighton, 18 routes were late 514 times, and one bus cost its riders 205 minutes in the first week.
• Across the system. More than a dozen routes topped 1,000 lost minutes. Delays clustered at the start of the year and in late January and February, during one of the snowiest winters in a decade. On at least a dozen days from March through May there were about 100 or more late arrivals, overlapping with elementary MCAS testing.
• The contract. Transdev's current contract is worth $630 million and runs from July 2023 to June 2028. Its key benchmark is a 90% on-time morning rate, lower than the 95% goal the district often cites. Last year's average was 91%, and Transdev received a $27,300 bonus for topping 92% in April, May and June.

City Councilor Erin Murphy told WBUR she was frustrated but not surprised. She said this is her fifth year on the council and that she has held hearings on late buses every year. BPS did not respond to WBUR's questions about last year's delays. Last spring, officials blamed short staffing, mechanical problems and bad weather.

What our records add

Councilors brought route data of their own. At the March 31 emergency hearing, Council President Liz Breadon, who represents Brighton, said Edison buses failed to show up 3.5% of the time, twice the districtwide rate. She described one bus carrying about 60 students that averaged more than 36 minutes late and had a 14% on-time rate (watch at 1:42:12).

How lateness is counted. At the same hearing, BPS transportation director Dan Rosengard said any bus arriving after the start of the school day counts as late, and that a bus more than an hour late is also counted as a "blown trip," which can bring a fine (watch at 1:06:50). In April, he told the Ways and Means Committee that on-time performance that year was the highest on record (watch at 41:30).

Who has filed. Murphy's February order on bus delays, co-filed with City Councilor Ed Flynn, is still in the Education Committee (docket 0374). Her October order on this school year's performance (docket 1920) had its hearing Monday (our story). City Councilor Benjamin Weber, whose district includes the Curley, pressed officials on the 95% benchmark and blown-trip fines in March (watch at 1:56:23).

The district councilors for the four schools WBUR highlighted are Gabriela Coletta Zapata (Charlestown, District 1), John FitzGerald (the Murphy School, District 3), Weber (the Curley) and Breadon (the Edison).

What's next

BPS says morning on-time performance reached 91% in October, according to Boston.com. The council meets Wednesday at noon (agenda). The district has not said whether it will publish route-level on-time data. WBUR said BPS could not immediately provide route maps for the most chronically late buses.