Comptroller Brad Lander Calls for Major School Bus System Overhaul

In a new audit and accompanying policy report, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander exposed the dire state of citywide school bus services and urged City Hall to address a failing system plagued by chronic lateness, missed routes, and a lack of accountability that underserves children experiencing homelessness, and disproportionately impacts students with disabilities. 

New York City Public Schools, the largest school system in the United States, transports over 145,000 public, charter, and private school students at an annual cost of nearly $2 billion. In an audit of the Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT), the Comptroller’s Office uncovered abysmal vendor performance and glaring oversight failures. In the 2023-24 school year alone, OPT received over 150,000 complaints—including more than 14,000 for no-show pickups—yet OPT lacks effective systems to investigate the root causes of these failures or hold the bus companies accountable. The audit further revealed that the DOE failed to collect $42.6 million in penalties for basic GPS violations in the 2024-25 school year and continues to rely on a routing system built in 1994 with software unsupported since 2015. 

“For decades, our City’s school bus system has failed our students and families,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “Parents and guardians miss work, students miss class and breakfast, and kids with disabilities are stranded when our school bus system lacks the accountability and organization we need to fix systemic issues. With the shortened three-year contract extensions, City Hall has a unique opportunity to fix our schools’ dysfunctional bus system.”  

OPT’s service failures have been exacerbated by 46-year-old contracts. In November 2025, the Panel for Educational Policy broke a decades-long cycle by approving shorter, three-year contract extensions set to expire on June 30, 2028, which can empower the City to finally address these long-standing service issues.  

The Office’s audit found: 

• Over 150,000 service complaints received in the 2023-24 school year. 

• $42.6 million in uncollected penalties for GPS tracking log-in violations in 2024-25. 

• No evidence of systematic analysis of complaints to enforce contracts or improve service. 

• 99% of “problem runs” are for students with disabilities. 

• Required pre-school year “dry runs” are often not performed. Prior to the start of the 2023-24 school year, 19 bus vendors failed to comply with dry-run requirements. 

• DOE awarded Via Transportation contracts totaling $51.7 million to develop transportation technology — yet the vendor is up to five years late in implementing new routing and student badging technology. 

To support the City’s transition to a modern, equitable school transportation system by 2028, the policy report outlines three paths forward — competitive reprocurement, municipalization, and non-profit management — ensuring that input from parents, educators, advocates, and students is considered in the decision-making process. Comptroller Lander also recommends City Hall appoint a School Bus Czar within the first month of 2026, who would be tasked with stabilizing daily operations, conducting a comprehensive assessment of family needs and system performance, and aligning the legal, fiscal, labor, and legislative strategy for reform. 

The Comptroller’s policy report charts three potential solutions to address the City’s school bus crisis: 

Scenario 1: Competitive Procurement

Rebidding all the City’s school bus contracts would require State legislation to preserve long-standing labor protections (EPPs) while allowing DOE to competitively procure new contracts. If two proposed bills (S1018/A8440) pass in 2026, DOE could begin an 18-month reprocurement process, but this approach carries risks—including legislative uncertainty, ongoing fragmentation across 48 vendors, and challenges in fixing OPT’s core routing and oversight failures.  

Scenario 2: Municipalization

Creating a municipally-run school transportation agency—modeled on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)—would consolidate all bus operations under City control, improve routing, technology, and working conditions, and treat drivers and attendants as City employees. Benefits include unified oversight and better service quality, but challenges include major upfront costs (fleet acquisition and pension obligations), operational risks typical of large public agencies, and concerns about efficiency and innovation.  

Scenario 3: Non-Profit Management

Expanding the existing nonprofit NYCSBUS (New York City School Bus Umbrella Services, Inc.) into a citywide operator (akin to the City’s library system) would remove the profit motive, achieve industry consolidation, and enable a governance structure focused on service quality and accountability. DOE could reprocure NYCSBUS’s contract after 2026 to absorb routes, routing, customer service, and GPS functions. Key hurdles include absorbing substantial pension and fleet purchase costs and restructuring governance to ensure independence and effectiveness. 

“I support the recommendations in the Comptroller’s audit of the DOE OPT and the effort to strengthen oversight of our city’s vast school bus system,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “With New York City Public Schools being the largest school system in the country and transporting 145,000 students daily, it is crucial that students have safe, timely, and reliable transportation. The Comptroller’s recent audit report, Get off the Struggle Bus, presents three feasible ways that the incoming mayoral administration could improve school bus transportation.”