After a rocky start to the school year, student bus transportation is improving and Cambridge Public Schools’ chief operating officer said he is “optimistic” about negotiating even better outcomes.
The district has added a staff member to its transportation office to help address late buses and parent concerns, and it has consolidated routes into two tiers from three and seen more on-time arrivals, said Damon Smith at the School Committee’s Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee meeting on Thursday.
Despite this, general education buses delivered students on time from 42 percent to 68 percent in the first five weeks of school, with late buses potentially costing students instructional time or breakfasts provided before school. Traffic especially from Route 2 onto Rindge Avenue and on the Alewife Brook Parkway continues to be a concern, Smith said.
Smith emphasized the magnitude of the transportation operation run by the district: 2,473 public school students and 462 public charter or private school students ride more than 40 buses daily to or from school along 68 routes. Additionally, 375 district students and 87 in out-of-district special education placements ride more than 75 door-to-door vehicles, completing 92 routes. Door-to-door services also serve students experiencing homelessness.
Cambridge has a five-year, $47 million contract for pre-K to eighth grade general education transportation with Eastern Bus that expires in 2030. For door-to-door services, using small vehicles such as minibuses and vans, the district has a three-year, $29 million contract with North Reading Transportation Bus that expires in 2027.
An early delay getting the Beacon Connect bus-tracking platform running for door-to-door services has been resolved, Smith said, but “this is where the growth needs to be more exponential. We are seeing progress, but clearly, for this critical group of students, we need more.”
On-time performance for door-to-door transportation ranges wildly, with 13 vehicles arriving after the bell more than 50 percent of days – “completely unacceptable,” Smith said. With another year on the contract, “we have an opportunity, I think, to be more planful about what our next contract will look like and who we will be working with.”
In Massachusetts, districts can choose to operate their own buses or lease them, contract out services or a combination. Districts contracting services to a private bus company are required to select the lowest bidder that meets their needs.
This is not always an option. There has been a 20 percent decline in the number of school bus companies operating in the state since the 1980s, according to a WBUR report in 2022, when Boston Public Schools saw just one bidder for the job. Delays nationwide have resulted from a shortage of bus drivers – there are nearly 10 percent fewer compared with before the Covid pandemic, according to a 2025 report by the Economic Policy Institute.
