Bronx mom says bus company dysfunction causes her son to have a three-hour commute on some days
Cruz says her son spent up to three hours on the bus to get to school on his first day, despite the route being calculated for an hour and a half.
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A Bronx mother says her special needs son has been late to school every day since the school year began due to dysfunction with his bus company.
Jennifer Cruz and her 10-year-old son Jonathan live in Throgs Neck. Her son attends a school in Lower Manhattan. Cruz says her son spent up to three hours on the bus to get to school on his first day, despite the route being calculated for an hour and a half.
Before the first day of school, Cruz says the bus company, NYCBUS, did a dry run of his route that was scheduled to pick him up at 7 a.m. and drop him off by 8:30 a.m.
On the first day of school and every day since, Cruz says a different driver and aide showed up at or before 6:30 a.m. without notice. The route had changed and instead of being on the bus with just two other students, Jonathan was the first of nine to be picked up.
On that day, Cruz says he did not arrive to his first day of school until 9:30 a.m. The issues persisted on the way home, Cruz reported her son has not arrived home from school earlier than 5 p.m. after being dismissed from school around 2:30 p.m.
"This means that my son is on the bus for 2 ½ to three hours since he is the first to be picked up and last to be dropped off. This is simply not OK. My son has feeding issues, which means he does not eat correctly all day and is coming home in stomach pain because of this. He also has encopresis and needs access to the restroom or will soil himself, which has been happening quite often," said Cruz.
After reaching out to the bus company and the Office of Pupil Transportation, Cruz learned that the bus company had combined her son's bus route with another route resulting in delays.
The delays have caused Jonathan to miss critical learning time in the classroom, and important therapy sessions after school.
"This is a difficult schedule for anyone so imagine for a special needs child. I myself am a special education teacher in the DOE and am spending my day worried about him and dealing with the aftermath at home. My son who loved going to school is starting to dread getting on this bus," said Cruz.
Cruz says she has filed at least 24 delays to the city's Department of Education over the last two years, but city data revealed the delays have not been accurately reported.
"The bus companies are not reporting that to the city data; there was a mismatch of that information - it's frustrating because they are our most venerable population, and it's not their fault, it's not my sons fault that he has to go all the way to Manhattan for a school," said Cruz.
The Department of Education told News 12 in a statement:
"We are dedicated to providing reliable and quality transportation for all students. NYCSBUS is in contact with the affected families and school community regarding this incident, and we are actively working alongside them to minimize disruptions and ensure that there are no double routes moving forward. We encourage families who experience delays to report them to us directly, and we will readily address it."
Cruz says NYCBUS sent the original bus driver to pick her son up on Friday morning, but the bus was delayed and late to school after breaking down. She says they told her that her son will be scheduled on his original route going forward.
