Sunday, September 13, 2009
Metro columnist Dan Casey: Busing logistics require ironing
Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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Bus No. 137 is one of many formerly city-owned school buses that ferries students to Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Raleigh Court.
According to the Roanoke City Public Schools bus schedule, it's supposed to start in Northwest Roanoke at 7:33 a.m. and gather students as it winds through the Villa Heights, Fairland and Melrose/Rugby neighborhoods.
Then it rolls over to the Grandin Court area in Southwest Roanoke and picks up more youngsters before unloading outside Woodrow Wilson at 8:25 a.m., 20 minutes before the school's start time.
It's the bus my sixth-grader, Zach, is supposed to ride.
The term "supposed to" is deliberate in this context.
Because bus No. 137's attendance record so far has been very spotty.
I have been taking notes.
- Tuesday morning, the first day of school, Zach and another boy waited an hour and 15 minutes at the stop. At 9 a.m. -- 15 minutes after school started -- the other boy's father drove them there.
Tuesday afternoon, Zach and some other students waited two hours at school for a replacement bus. It finally showed, and he got home at 5:45 p.m.
- Wednesday morning, he and the other boy waited for 30 minutes, then called me at 8:15 a.m. I drove him to school.
Bus No. 137 never showed up that afternoon. But a replacement bus did, after about a half-hour wait.
- Thursday morning, Zach waited 30 minutes. Then he walked to Woodrow, which is only about a half-mile from his bus stop. Thursday afternoon, he rode another replacement bus home after a 30-minute wait.
- Friday morning, bus No. 137 arrived on time. Hooray! It was 20 minutes late arriving at the school in the afternoon.
We all know what's happening, of course. Last spring, in the wake of state budget cuts, the Roanoke School Board sold its buses and drivers to a private company from Pennsylvania that promised it could deliver Roanoke students to school more cheaply and efficiently.
They are the same buses, same drivers, the same schools and this is the same city -- but it's not quite working yet.
We have heard the private-industry-always-is-better boast through many levels of government in recent years.
But it's not necessarily true. As you may have heard, the privatization of a Virginia state government computer network upgrade has turned into a $2 billion taxpayer-financed disaster the state is now trying to extricate itself from.
There is no guarantee that the private sector can do it better.
And I'm one of many Roanoke parents who has discovered this.
Inquiring as a parent, I called Woodrow on Thursday. A lady there referred me to the bus contractor, Mountain Valley Transportation.
A woman at Mountain Valley said the driver for bus No. 137 "is running double runs" because "we do not have a driver for all these routes." That's affecting several routes, she said, but she was unable to specify how many.
"Eventually they're going to be going to be going by the schedule but the first week is really hectic," she said.
Friday about 3 p.m., I put on my columnist's hat and attempted to talk to Sue Kramer of Mountain Valley's management team. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, she asked me to call back at 5:30 p.m. When I did she was in a meeting, so I left a message. When I called back at 6:10, she had left for the day.
School board Chairman David Carson said the problems were exacerbated by a larger-than-expected number of students choosing to attend out-of-district schools under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.
That forced the school systems into more runs than had been anticipated, which resulted in a logistical mess. Still, he called the performance "unacceptable."
Saturday, robocalls went out all over the city informing parents that the buses would be rerouted.
Part of me is glad Mountain Valley doesn't yet have their act together. We live close enough for Zach to walk to and from Woodrow each day. That one-mile round trip of daily hoofing will be good for him.
But for many students, walking is not an option. They live too far away or the streets they need to cross are too busy.
One question raised by this mess is: How many other schoolchildren is this happening to?
I'm sure I'm not the only parent who's relieved my middle school student finally was able to catch the bus to school.
But bus No. 137, where have you been?
