Education on November 2, 2026

Boston City Council Committee on Education hearing, November 2, 2026, examined Boston Public Schools (BPS) student transportation, including service reliability, safety, bus monitors, tracking technology, and accountability for its transportation contractor, Transdev. Families and students described late or missing buses, inaccurate Zoom app updates, unclear student check-in procedures, unsafe stops, insufficient monitor staffing, and limited responses to complaints. BPS reported October on-time performance of 91% in the morning and 86% in the afternoon, while acknowledging that service and responses to families need improvement. Officials said an RFP for stop-arm cameras was underway. No votes were taken.

The discussion focused on the scale and oversight of transportation spending: BPS’s annual transportation budget is just under $200 million, while figures cited for the Transdev contract included roughly $120–$128 million, with about $21 million described as the annual management fee and associated costs. BPS said it withheld about $400,000 in non-performance damages last year and had assessed about $10,000 so far this year; damages for late service generally apply to trips at least an hour late or not operated. Councilors criticized persistent failures and raised whether future procurement should introduce competition, including dividing the district into zones, and whether contract accountability provisions should be strengthened. Officials noted state law requires school-bus transportation to be competitively bid through an invitation-for-bids process. The chair proposed a working group with families and requested follow-up information on service complaints, assaults, monitor assignments, and athletics transportation; no procurement award or budget action was approved.