A New School Year is Here—And So Are School Bus Delays
New York is the largest school district in the country, so it also has the largest school bus system. Of the approximately 150,000 children who ride these buses, around 66,000 are students with disabilities and students living in temporary housing, including those staying in the city’s shelter system.
When there’s a problem with bus service, these groups are usually the ones who suffer most. “Each year, as the school year begins, there’s one thing we can count on: our phones will ring off the hook with calls from families whose children can’t get to school due to school bus service failures,” said Randi Levine, policy director of Advocates for Children of New York, during remarks at a rally outside City Hall in late September.
During the 2023–2024 school year, in a network of 9,000 school bus routes braiding city streets, there were 80,000 delays. In just the first weeks of the 2025-2026 school year, there have been 4,476 no-shows and 8,068 reported bus delays and breakdowns as of last week, city officials said.
What's ahead this week in housing: Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m., The City Club of New York will host a panel discussion, “Betting on Development? The Promise and Perils of Casinos in New York,” on Zoom.
