Q&A
Discussion on bus ride times, Via app, and accessibility issues
3:06:55
·
5 min
Council Member Julie Won leads a discussion with various panel members about school bus transportation issues, focusing on ride times for students with IEPs, the accuracy of the Via app, and accessibility concerns.
- Panel members confirm that the 60-minute ride time guarantee for students with IEPs is often not met
- The Via app's effectiveness is questioned due to reliability issues and lack of real-time information in emergency situations
- Concerns are raised about the accessibility of certain programs and transportation options for students with disabilities
Julie Won
3:06:55
And for parents who are here or parent advocacy groups, especially for students with IEPs or 75 schools.
3:07:02
Do you think it's accurate when they say that they guarantee that your child will be on the bus in school within 60 minutes?
3:07:11
Okay.
3:07:11
Everyone said no for the record.
3:07:14
Thank you.
Anna Brehm
3:07:15
I can just add, we have many students who even with limited travel time recommended on their IEP are on the bus for far longer than their IEP mandates that they would be on the bus and for students who may not have limited travel time recommended on their IEP.
3:07:30
I have students who are on the bus for 2 hours every day, and that's without an accident or extra traffic.
3:07:37
It's just the normal route.
Tara Foster
3:07:39
And if I might piggyback on that question, there was a great deal of discussion about, oh, perhaps if we increase our Nest and Horizon and Ames programs, you know, these problems on lengthy bus rides won't be there.
3:07:53
You know, quite frankly, the gatekeeping that goes on with the Nest Horizon and Ames programs, which you know, wonderful parents, many, many, many parents wanna be in those programs, but they aren't even offered to them or really explain to them.
3:08:08
So I I, you know, I wanted to point that out because that was something that DOE raised.
Maggie Sanchez
3:08:13
I also
Tara Foster
3:08:13
have the Omni Cards, if I might.
3:08:16
My understanding, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that that is not available to any child that requires using.
3:08:24
They they've been told that they if their disability is such that they record busing, they won't get an OmniCard.
3:08:30
But how do we then dealing with these children who are kept down of after school programs curriculum, DOE sponsored sports programs.
3:08:44
It it's problematic, and I it's something to think about.
Julie Won
3:08:48
And even as it's not in June.
3:08:50
For the parent advocacy groups that are here, the New York City via app or the school bus app, can you can you confirm if that is accurate in real time or is it?
Sarah Catalina Naro
3:09:08
Thank you.
3:09:10
So it it's an estimate, and it has to be because otherwise, it would be breaking confidentiality to show exactly where other students live.
3:09:22
But there was a lot of Hoopla about the app, and a lot of parents are just finding out about it, you know.
3:09:32
After really 10 years and a couple of full starts and a lot of throwing, I think, good money after bad.
3:09:40
I was gonna say to both of those questions, there's a district 75 president's council is a good resource for you, and they are collecting parent driven data about both the the rollout of the of the bus app and in general how things are going and what, you know, what problems parents are experiencing.
3:10:06
So, hopefully, somebody will be speaking from that group later on.
Anna Brehm
3:10:17
If I can add about the Via app, as as OPT described, it's it's only accurate if a bus driver logs into it and has it in use while the students are on the bus.
3:10:28
So I have clients where they have 2 children at 2 different schools on 2 different bus routes.
3:10:34
One student's driver may log in to the app.
3:10:37
They're able to track where that child is.
3:10:39
It's very helpful.
3:10:41
There are other child bus driver does not reliably log in.
3:10:46
It also doesn't you know, if you can imagine watching watching the bus drive on the app, if the bus has been sitting for an extended period at one stop, it doesn't explain what's going on.
3:10:59
It doesn't tell you that your child's bus has been in an accident.
3:11:02
It doesn't tell you that there's some sort of emergency going on.
3:11:06
And those are the situations where we really need families to be able to reach the bus company to find out that information.
3:11:12
I've also had parents look at the app, you know, an hour after their student's school day ends, and the bus hasn't popped up yet because the bus actually has not picked their child up from school.
3:11:24
The bus is running extremely late.
3:11:26
And so it's it's accurate when the child's on the bus in a timely manner and when the bus driver actually logs in, but it doesn't provide the information in those outlier situations, and it's not accessible for families who do not have tech access.
Tara Foster
3:11:43
Right.
3:11:43
I wanted to piggyback on that as well.
3:11:45
That's an excellent point.
3:11:47
And thank you for asking the question earlier, chair Joseph, about what are you doing to train parents and for language access issues?
3:11:56
Thank you.
