Westway Releases Statement Regarding Poor Bus Service

John Benish, Jr., the president of Westway Coach, Inc., released a statement Wednesday morning taking full responsibility for the poor bus service Downers Grove Grade School District 58, and have received since last Wednesday.

He outlined steps taken to fix problems, including replacing at least two employees, as well as meeting with school districts and having employees run practice routes with bus drivers.

Benish said things have run smoother the past two days. Districts 68 and 99 told Patch bus service was improved Tuesday, although some issues remained.

The full statement is below.

“We want the communities of Downers Grove and Woodridge to know that our company takes full responsibility for the many difficulties with our bus service at the start of this school year. 

All of us at Westway Coach understand that this caused added burden to students, families and school staff during this very important time of the year.

We continue to address the situation and have been working diligently to make significant changes to improve bus scheduling and routing.  The initiatives are paying off as we have seen that more buses were running on schedule yesterday and today. 

The actions we have taken include:

• Arranged for 25 of our most experienced employees to review and revise bus routes with drivers and accompany them on practice runs
• Replaced the operations manager with a manager with more than 25 years of experience with the Downers Grove/Westmont area
• Replaced the former dispatcher with a veteran dispatcher/router with more than 30 years of experience in managing the transportation for the Downers Grove/Westmont area
• Participated in meetings with school district officials, administrators, teachers and parents to express our deepest apologies and discuss proposed strategies during meetings with them
• Continued to personally address these issues with all those involved with the transportation of the children of the districts we have been entrusted to serve

As a resident of the community and father of four, I am taking this situation to heart.  I take pride in our Company’s legacy of providing quality service to our customers.  Nothing is more important than the safety of your children and your satisfaction with our performance.

We continue to conduct daily reviews of routes to insure things run smoothly and that buses are on time.  We appreciate the patience and understanding of all those involved as we continue to improve our performance and live up to the trust that district officials and parents have placed in our company.  We assure them that this is a temporary situation and we are doing everything we can to make sure it is corrected as soon as possible.”