What we know about St. Louis school transportation crisis

Children board a bus that is missing proper signage and a license plate on the front at Shaw Visual Performing Arts Elementary School, a St. Louis Public School, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. School buses are required by state law to have a company name on both sides and the words “SCHOOL BUS” written in large black letters on the front and back.

St. Louis Public Schools and many other districts have struggled to get kids to school during a yearslong national bus driver shortage. There are additional challenges at SLPS, including dozens of magnet schools for thousands of students living all over the city, too many schools for not enough students and a large homeless population.

The crisis escalated last spring when primary bus vendor Missouri Central backed out of its contract with the district. The district’s emergency transportation plan includes numerous smaller vendors that have raised safety concerns. This week, students rode in illegal school buses from at least two companies in violation of Missouri traffic laws.

Missouri Central signed a three-year contract with SLPS to operate 276 buses for $26 million annually, starting in the 2022-2023 school year.

The company never lived up to the contract and canceled an average of 20 routes daily. Nearly half of the company’s buses failed Missouri Highway Patrol inspections in spring 2023. The next December, Missouri Central asked for $2 million more for driver salaries and other expenses. Drivers walked out on the job in February after a mechanic said he found a noose in the bus garage. Contract negotiations broke down and Missouri Central announced that it would terminate the contract in July, one year early.

A school bus without proper signage waits outside of Shaw Visual Performing Arts Elementary School, a St. Louis Public School, before students boarded it on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in St. Louis. School buses are required by state law to have a company name on both sides.

The district hired two consulting companies to work on the transportation crisis. New York-based 4Mativ received a $200,000 emergency contract in January for “expert consulting services, route optimization analysis, and support in selecting suitable transportation vendors.”

Better Education Partners of Seattle has received $92,200 from the district since June for transportation consulting. The company was registered in Washington in May by Ashley Davies, a longtime colleague of fired SLPS Superintendent Keisha Scarlett when they worked in Seattle Public Schools.

The plan presented by Davies included five strategies: new school bell times to create three tiers 65 minutes apart, MetroBus passes for high school students, an opt-out campaign for parents who can drive, bus stop consolidation and a redesign of bus routes.

The plan’s budget is estimated at $40 million split among bus company First Student and at least 19 smaller vendors.

The Post-Dispatch reported in July that the list of approved vendors included home health care companies, out-of-state operators and rideshare apps. Two companies, AALAF Transportation and Xtra Care, registered with the state just before the SLPS deadline for proposals.

A school bus without proper signage sits outside of Shaw Visual Performing Arts Elementary School, a St. Louis Public School, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in St. Louis. School buses are required by state law to have the words, "SCHOOL BUS" written in large black letters on the front and back.

A spokesman for the district said the companies had gone through a “detailed vetting process,” but Square Watson, chief of operations, said later that month that the vendors showed “inconsistencies” between their proposals and their rider capacity.

Just days before school started in August, three vendors — Xtra Care, Shuttles Pro and Victorious Life — told district leaders that they could not deploy their promised fleet of buses, stranding more than 1,000 students. Some families who lost their bus assignments were offered gas cards.

On the first day of school Aug. 19, SLPS paid QuikTrip $187,684, according to the district’s check register.

When asked why the district’s vetting process had failed, interim superintendent Millicent Borishade said only, “Good question.”

About 1,200 high school students have been riding the MetroBus to campuses along main public bus routes. More than 9,000 students are assigned to yellow buses, mostly operated by the company First Student. The smaller alternative vendors are responsible for transporting more than 2,500 students. The on-time percentage for all transportation providers is 85% for both arrivals and departures, according to Square Watson, SLPS’ chief of operations. The national average for on-time performance is over 99%, according to the Council of the Great City Schools.

Watson said SLPS will soon request proposals from transportation vendors for the 2025-2026 school year. The plan for next year includes 30 new electric buses obtained through a federal grant.

Several parents have reported their children had to sit on the floor of minivan shuttles because there weren’t enough seats or seatbelts for the passengers. Other residents have posted to social media about drivers running red lights and speeding on the way to schools.

After the violations were reported, principals said they were instructed to make sure every student has a seatbelt before dismissing the taxis after school.

School board member Natalie Vowell told district leaders she saw an SLPS taxi driver smoking a cigarette while transporting children.

A Columbia Elementary School student prepares to step onto a bus provided by St. Louis Public Schools on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at Columbia Elementary School in St. Louis.

“If we do not have a policy (and enforceable accountability measures) to protect our children from secondhand smoke on the way to and from school, we simply need to do better,” Vowell wrote in an email Aug. 19 obtained through a public records request.

An unknown number of students have been riding in buses from at least two vendors that violate several state safety laws. The district on Monday suspended all routes from Reed 2 Reed, which operated at least nine yellow buses that would not pass inspection requirements from the Missouri Highway Patrol. At least two of the buses had no license plates, and all lacked some signage.

According to SLPS check registers, Reed 2 Reed has been paid $682,292 since fall of 2023 despite not having a contract approved by the school board as required.

This week, two unmarked buses from an unknown vendor carried students to Shaw Visual and Performing Arts elementary in the Shaw neighborhood. The buses lacked required signage including the company name. Administrators at SLPS have not responded to questions about the second vendor violating state law.

Toyin Akinola, the longtime director of transportation at SLPS, retired this month with “no regrets,” she said. Soon after Akinola’s announcement, the district said it hired Leviticus McNeal as assistant director of transportation. McNeal previously worked for SLPS bus vendors Missouri Central and First Student.

The school district has posted a job opening for a transportation field supervisor and compliance officer.

Amaya Lovings, left, 15, from St. Louis, waits for her bus with her brother Aden Lovings, 5, and her mother Robin Lovings Brown on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. Lovings Brown called an Uber to pick up her daughter, a student at Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, after she waited an hour for her bus that was scheduled to arrive at 7:20 a.m. but it never showed.

St. Louis Public Schools acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade spoke Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, about the challenges and successes administrators noticed on the first day of school after their primary bus vendor canceled their contract. Video by Allie Schallert, [email protected]

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