Comments on: Bus union confirms strike threat but says action is not imminent

By: Pistnyc

Pistnyc — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:36:00 +0000

For the record, Local 1181 and concerned parent groups told the press the truth on 12/6/2011, namely that
a) busing is an important component of educational access as local schools (under test pressure) have fewer modified programs for our special needs kids;
b) the problems in busing now have everything to do with DOE insensitivity to these needs and nothing to do with drivers and matrons wanting to make a decent living;
c) people entrusted with vulnerable populations (i.e. bus teams) should have the greatest training, respect, and experience for the good of the children themselves.
For more information, search Parents to Improve School Transportation.

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:33:00 +0000

What are you talking about?

By: Tiredofflerpi

Tiredofflerpi — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:22:00 +0000

Another case of not knowing what you are talking about! Why don’t you spend some time learning something about the subject before you blindly follow someone who has a hidden agenda. The more you try to justify yourself the more it shows how much you really don’t know.

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:32:00 +0000

Heaven forbid we have children walk or bike to school like they did when I was growing up. We might even substantially cut childhood obesity rates by doing that.

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:30:00 +0000

My point is why are so many more children being bused to school than years ago? Every child should go to whatever school is physically closest to them, at least until high school. There are a plague of school buses on the streets each day which congest roads and put tons of pollution into the air. Many of these buses look like they’re about 40 years old, and as such, I’m sure don’t have any kind of emissions controls. They’re noisy as heck as well.

And even assuming there is some good reason to go to a school far away, the city has excellent public transit. Most children would get to school more quickly compared to taking a school bus. I resent my tax dollars being wasted on non-classroom nonsense like unnecessary busing.

By: bee

bee — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:46:00 +0000

Balderdash! Most of the buses are for special education/ and magnet programs, and the students who ARE bussed are not in close proximity of their schools.

By: Ashamedofyou

Ashamedofyou — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Tell all of those lazy special ed kids to walk. Are you kidding?
You have lost your mind

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:50:00 +0000

I really hope they go on strike, and stay on strike. I don’t remember this many school buses when I was a kid. They’re a major cause of traffic congestion where I live, and a major annoyance. Most NYers live within easy walking distance of a school. Why aren’t these kids going to schools in their own neighborhood? Why in an era when it makes sense to go “green” are we wasting resources (and adding to already heavy traffic) unnecessarily busing children?

As Larry Littlefield mentioned, we should be questioning this unnecessary cost (and the detrimental effect being bused often has on academic performance). Unless no school exists within, say, a mile of where a child lives, they shouldn’t be bused. And even when that’s the case, they shouldn’t be bused if public transit alternatives exist. Honestly, this huge increase in the amount of busing over the last decade strikes me as some kind of political hand washing.

By: Tiredofflerpi

Tiredofflerpi — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Does Klein or Murdock own a bus company

By: il flerpolo

il flerpolo — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:51:00 +0000

One wonders if the UFT will stand in solidarity with Local 1181. Shouldn’t all workers have job protections? Don’t bus drivers deserve them? Are they not among the 99%? And damn Emperor Bloomberg for creating the mess by renewing these contracts without public bidding, like Giuliani, Dinkins, and Koch did before him. And damn Emperor Bloomberg for creating this mess by trying to open up these contracts for public bidding.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:43:00 +0000

So that’s the number — less than 15% use the school buses in NYC. The national rate is about double.

So how does that compare with spending, according to the latest Census Bureau data I attached here, which no one was interested in at the time because it wasn’t about the Anthony Weiner scandal?

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/census_bureau_fy_2009_education_finance_data_not_anthony_weiner_or_sex.html

The U.S. average for pupil transportation was $452 per student in FY 2009, compared with $1,026 for New York City. Adjusting the NYC figure downward for the cost of living based what the average serf (ie. not finance or government) makes here vs. the U.S., that’s still $779 or 72.0% above average.

Given that the debate for the next decade is going to be how and in what for education should be slashed to pay for the 1995, 2000 and 2008 pension deals, shouldn’t this cost be questioned? It is certainly being questioned elsewhere. Perhaps that’s next year’s equivalent of laying off the DC37 workers, to limit the shrinkage of the teaching force to attrition.

By: il flerpolo

il flerpolo — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:31:00 +0000

Are you saying they saying they shouldn’t consider hiring different companies? That they shouldn’t examine the contracts? That they should hand out more no-bid contracts because consistency is a virtue? What are you saying?

By: ThreeinPS

ThreeinPS — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:27:00 +0000

Here is what I received at 12:09pm Friday from my child’s K-8 school. It mentions a potential strike this afternoon! (Yikes..scramble.)

Dear Parents,

Attached
and pasted below is a letter we just received from the Chancellor about
the possibility of an immediate strike by the school bus drivers’
union. Please check both the Dept. of Education’s website and your local
news (rather than calling or writing to us) about whether or not there
will be school bus service this afternoon and/or Monday morning.
Please read the Chancellor’s letter for other information in the event
of a strike. If there is a strike, we will receive MetroCards to
distribute to students automatically. You will not have to request them
from the school.

Let’s hope they can work this out without an interruption in service.

Best,

By: I noticed that...

I noticed that... — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:05:00 +0000

The DoE, for some inexplicable reason, make messes, but they don’t like to deal with those messes. Once again our children are victims.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:58:00 +0000

Anyone watching PEP meetings knows that the DOE has given out lots of multi-year no-bid contracts to bus companies in recent years. Now they are saying they are “in the process of examining those contracts and could opt to
hire different companies to provide transportation starting next summer”? what a mess.