{"id":23543,"date":"2025-10-31T03:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/23543\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T03:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:38:11","slug":"nyc-school-bus-shutdown-as-soon-as-monday-is-averted-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/23543\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC school bus shutdown as soon as Monday is averted"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sweeping school bus lockout<\/a> in New York City has been averted, for now.<\/p>\n

The remaining bus operators<\/a> announced Thursday night they were signing a series of emergency extensions, which was later confirmed by city education officials.<\/p>\n

Early last week, the companies threatened to discontinue bus service for tens of thousands of students<\/a>, and lay off drivers and attendants, as soon as Monday, Nov. 3 \u2014 unless a citywide education panel approved a five-year contract extension.<\/p>\n

The buses have been operating on emergency extensions since the last renewal expired over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, this is about the children and our employees, period,\u201d said Richard Bamberger, a spokesman for the companies. \u201cBuses will be running on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, New York City Public Schools said the system was committed to working with the vendors to put a contract in front of the education panel with enough support to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the vendors reconsidering their position and recognizing how devastating this would be for our most vulnerable students in the nation\u2019s largest school system,\u201d said Nicole Brownstein, a spokeswoman for the public schools.<\/p>\n

The panel, known as the Panel for Educational Policy or \u201cPEP,\u201d opposes a long-term extension without changes to state law<\/a> that would allow the city to competitively rebid school bus contracts \u2014 and push for better service for children. They passed a resolution doubling down on their stance on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a victory,\u201d said Greg Faulkner, the chair of the PEP. \u201cThe panel held firm. I think when we held that unanimous vote last night, it was a clear indication we were not going to give into pressure and it was a victory for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has not re-solicited bids in some half-century, while its families \u2014 especially students with disabilities, who make up a large share of riders \u2014 have complained of chronic bus delays and no-shows<\/a>, a lack of air-conditioning or heat, and other issues.<\/p>\n

The bus operators claim they reached a five-year deal with the Adams administration back in June after a year of negotiation. However, any finalized contract requires the approval of the PEP that, while mostly made of mayoral appointees, has been emboldened in recent months on this issue.<\/p>\n

Next, Faulkner said he hoped to push for a two-year extension, possibly with a third year based on performance.<\/p>\n

The bus companies said they \u201cwant and need\u201d to work with the PEP: \u201cThis emergency extension will allow us to bring all parties to the table to work everything out,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sweeping school bus lockout in New York City has been averted, for now. The remaining bus operators…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12142,15370,13343,15368,15369,15367,9,24,3059,56,63,65,64,15366,3058],"class_list":{"0":"post-23543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bus-companies","9":"tag-bus-operators","10":"tag-bus-service","11":"tag-education-panel","12":"tag-emergency-extension","13":"tag-greg-faulkner","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-city-public-schools","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-headlines","20":"tag-nyc-news","21":"tag-richard-bamberger","22":"tag-school-bus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}