8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

This al goes back to the procurement decision to switch to California based "Zum Transportation" for a significant number of the routes.

That decision (sold as that they had a green electric fleet), which turned out to be false- coupled with firing the drivers of other companies who knew the routes, and compounded by allowing call outs on the first day of school, and not doing a test run of the routes- has led to a catastrophe.

I'm glad my kids arent bus riders. It's been an absolute cluster-f this week, and I hope someone calls out Ball and the BOE for this decision. Maybe FOIA the whole procurement process.

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08/30/2023 10:28

Subject: 8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

Were the buses better this morning? my kids drive themselves to school

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08/30/2023 11:17

Subject: 8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:Were the buses better this morning? my kids drive themselves to school

NP here. No.

This morning at 8:42 (2 minutes after both the local ES and MS were to start school) we received text and email notification that all buses were running 30 minutes behind schedule. Great. Since the majority of the buses at our school arrive around 10-15 min before first bell, that means that all of those buses and all of those children would be late for school. Again.

I feel bad for bus riders. 3 days of school and many of them have only made it to school before first bell none or one times. Fortunately my kids are walkers, but they've reported that many kids are arriving quite late throughout their first class. And since my kids are 6th graders, all of their peers are in middle school with completely different scheduling than they are used to, those kids have been missing the first short period with the advisor who is supposed to help them answer questions and guide them through their first week of middle school. Most of the bussed kids are NOT getting that and essentially are just being thrown into middle school with virtually no guidance. Lots and lots of very lost kids who are struggling with lockers and combinations for the first time, dealing with a schedule that they have to track themselves for the first time, trying to navigate a new school, dealing with a wider array of classes, new patterns of homework, and so on.

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08/30/2023 14:12

Subject: 8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

AA County has been dealing with this for over a year now. You get used to it. Talk with other families whose kids are at your bus stop or in the community. Come up with a village who can help shuttle kids.

No one wants to drive a bus. It's why they hired Zum to begin with. They can't afford to hire drivers and they had to subcontract to let them figure it out.

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08/30/2023 14:13

Subject: 8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well presumably you're close enough to walk?

Across a busy 4 lane road with no crosswalk or crossing guard? Nope.

Is there a light? Can you request a crossing guard?

+1 request a crossing guard or don a vest and deputize yourself

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09/01/2023 13:17

Subject: 8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

no longer a HCPSS parent, but I heard that they cancelled the JV football games due to the bus issue. That is just so sad and ridiculous.

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09/01/2023 13:35

Subject: Re:8/29/23 we don’t have bus service

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:This al goes back to the procurement decision to switch to California based "Zum Transportation" for a significant number of the routes.

That decision (sold as that they had a green electric fleet), which turned out to be false- coupled with firing the drivers of other companies who knew the routes, and compounded by allowing call outs on the first day of school, and not doing a test run of the routes- has led to a catastrophe.

I'm glad my kids arent bus riders. It's been an absolute cluster-f this week, and I hope someone calls out Ball and the BOE for this decision. Maybe FOIA the whole procurement process.

I am very curious about the procurement process used to award this contract. Does anyone know more about this? Everything I have read suggests that the award was based on a promise that Zum would be using electric vehicles, which they are not, at least not yet.

Anne Arundel County parents have been dealing with bus shortages for a long time, and it's terrible.

Once again, the Howard County school board laser-focused on equity sees one of its decisions detrimentally impacting lower-income families, including those whose kids rely on school breakfasts, the most.

One of my favorite comments was from Antonia Watts, who suggested that middle and high school students can use public transportation to get to school. Where is the public transportation that goes to area middle and high schools? I'm not aware of any in my area. My kids are aged out of HCPSS now (that goodness), but I would have been tremendously thankful for public transportation that could allow my kids to stay after school in high school or get to HCC or the ARL rather than having to use leave to get them where they needed to go.

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