BILL NUMBER:S5897

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to
school bus service

PURPOSE:
To make unoccupied seats on school buses available, through a
selection system, to students deemed ineligible.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision a of
section 19-606 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as
added by local law number 48 of the city of New York for the year
2000, to add a new subdivision f-1:
Provides students a seat on school bus that have unoccupied seats
through a selection system.
Section two of the bill is the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
The New York City Department of Education normally
provides school bus service to students only through sixth grade, but
has the power to grant a variance to seventh and eighth-graders. Over
the past 18 years, variances have been granted to 70 schools where
the options with respect to public transportation are limited. The
              

city Department of Education eliminated school bus service to
students in seventh and eighth-grade. This policy affected 4,600
students at public, private and Catholic schools city-wide. Of those
students, 2,940 live on Staten Island where mass transit options are
limited.

With the start of the 2010 school year, parents and children were
subjected to chaos. In many cases, the children who attempted to take
public transportation waited at bus stops only to have these buses
pass them by because they were full to capacity with morning
commuters going to work. This has continued through the 2011 school
year.
Furthermore, parents who now drive their children to school face
incredible traffic jams and long delays surrounding the school due to
the tremendous increase in vehicles going to the schools. More
importantly, children who walk are scared of the traffic. The lack of
sidewalks and speeding vehicles increases their anxiety and makes
their route extremely treacherous. School buses passing the children
are reported to have many empty seats and that is why this
legislation is being proposed.

This bill would provide that the principal of each school determines
how many school buses have unoccupied seats. Once the determination
is made a selection system will be used to select students who were
deemed ineligible to have a seat on that bus. The selection system
shall be implemented by the New York City Department of Education.
The bill also provides that no additional drop off or pick up stops
will be made.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:


New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.