District 68, 99 Bus Issues Continue for Second Day
District 99 sent another apology Thursday after issues that plagued bus routes on the first day of school continued the second day.
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District 99 sent another apology for its bus service Thursday after issues continued with delays and missed pick-ups.
"We are extremely disappointed that the problems many experienced yesterday were not rectified today, and we again apologize to all of the students and families who have been affected," the district said in an e-mail.
The district sent a similar e-mail Wednesday night apologizing for "poor bus service."
Wednesday's e-mail went on to say the district had spoken with the vice president of operations with Westway, who assured district officials poor service would not be repeated Thursday.
Jill Browning, communications director for the district, had attributed the issues to the confusion of the half-day schedule, in which upperclassmen went to school in the morning and freshmen came in the afternoon.
Thursday was the district's first full day of school.
District 68 also notified parents Thursday of continued busing issues with an automated phone call.
It's the first week the districts have worked with Westway Coach.
Districts 58, 68 and 99 decided to consolidate bus routes this year and sign with a single company as a more efficient, cost-saving venture. The decision will save District 68 $300,000 a year, according to Kevin Wegner, assistant superintendent of business for Woodridge School District 68.
Parents reported on Woodridge Patch's Facebook page that bus service was restored on Thursday.
Taunny Picha Gilbert said the bus did show up and took her son to school. "Very happy they figured it out so quickly," she wrote.
However, continued issues were reported on Darien Patch's Facebook page.
Cathy Fischer said the bus never came for her children, who were at the bus stop at 6:55 a.m. to be picked up at 7:05 a.m. They were still waiting at 8 a.m. and Westway didn't answer its phone.
She said the bus didn't come for the students on Wednesday, either.
The students finally had to get a ride to school.
"Not sure how long other kids in the neighborhood waited at their stops, as never saw a bus here for them, period," she said. "If our kids parents were all at work this morning, not sure how, when or if the kids would even have made it to school the last two days."
Joe Filip
7:22 pm on Thursday, August 25, 2011
What a great idea to go with a new company and consolidate all the routes.... Our tax dollars at work. This sounds like it should be considered a violation of the contract, or breach, but with the administrators in our school districts, they probably didn't include language in the contract relating to this non-performance of duties. I would get fired if I didn't show up when and where I was supposed. How about an apology and rebate from Westway?
Cathy Fischer
8:32 pm on Thursday, August 25, 2011
Truth is, you get what you pay for..Is it worth it?
Ladyncourt
9:54 pm on Thursday, August 25, 2011
No Cathy it's not worth it. My daughter did not get home until 4:30 today from DGN because the bus was late in picking them up from school. School was out at 3:20.
Maria
12:07 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
They don't have enough drivers. Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the school districts for a copy of all bus routes, the driver for each route and a copy of the drivers bus license. You will then find out how they "saved money" - Bus drivers are each running multiple routes to different schools in different districts in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Know this, if they had not changed bus companies, the incremental cost would have been 0.6% more - or about $70K on a $10MM contract.
Debbie
9:58 am on Friday, August 26, 2011
This AM the high schoolers didn't get picked up; they were sitting waiting for over 45mins. And no bus. Is this safe? No....
Micki
5:17 pm on Friday, August 26, 2011
I called the company today after my son was riding around for over a hour on a bus ride that should have taken 15 minutes tops. The bus didn't come on Wednesday or Thursday morning or Wednesday afternoon. The bus driver ran the route backwards on Thursday and Friday dropping the closest students off last and driving around for nearly a extra 45 minutes. I also had my daughter who is in grade school dropped off in the middle of an intersection and she and two others had to cross a busy intersection to get home. What idiots these people are. If you call all you get are excuses about freight trains, no drivers, no busses, new routes, any excuse but no real problems being solved. This company was un no way prepared for this and have done a pathetic job so far.