Victor De La Cruz thinks AC Transit is screwing up a special route designed to take students to and from Newark public schools.
One day last year this bus failed to show up on the homeward run, stranding his daughter outside Newark Junior High.
So far this year the same has bus missed two pickups, he told Patch.
After the most recent foul up on Friday, De La Cruz emailed officials from AC Transit and other public agencies:
"This is UNNACEPTABLE. Either there is a service or there is not a service . . . after waiting for a bus that would not be showing up, my daughter of thirteen years old had to walk home for lack of that service."
He isn't alone.
When Patch asked whether other Newark parents had had similar experiences, these were among the replies:
- Cindee Lindholdt Burgess said: "I believe it is the 620 line, dedicated just to the school pick up and drop off. I have heard it also happens before school leaving the students with no way to school other than to walk and of course then they end up being late."
- Bernice Corcino added: "Yes and I keep getting calls from school telling me my son was absent due to him getting to school late because the bus shows up late or not at all. Very annoying."
- Alison Flemings Buliavac wrote:"This has been going on for years."
AC Transit board member Jeff Davis represents Newark on the transit agency's govering body.
He wrote De La Cruz promising that "this unfortunate incident" would be investigated and dealt with immediately.
Transit system spokesman Clarence L. Johnson said the problem last Friday owed to a misunderstanding.
AC Transit thought school was out, he told Patch. When it learned otherwise it dispatched a bus but, he added, some students may have given up waiting by the time it arrived.
As for the sporadic misses of which De La Cruz and other parents complain, Johnson said the agency does come up short-handed on occasion.
"A lack of financial resources has, among other things, forced unprecedented layoffs and downsizing that is ultimately reflected in overall levels of service we are able to provide," Johnson wrote Patch.
No excuses
De La Cruz isn't mollified. He signs his emails "gunny" which is short for gunnery sergeant, the rank from which he retired after a career in the U.S. Marine Corps.
"I don't accept excuses," he said.
But he told Patch that he didn't want to come across as a hard . . . ahem.
Sure problems will arise but it's up to AC Transit administrators to solve them, he said.
His view is that at a time of elevated concerns over school safety, keeping a schedule with students ought to be at the top of the agency's list of priorities.
"I want to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.
What do you think of the bus service to the schools?
This is one cat that read the "Bullshit For Dummies Manual". LOL
My son takes the AM AC transit line to school but I don't trust the after school bus to be reliable. This is a big problem for my family because of work schedules. I also find it annoying that the price to ride the bus changed to $1.05 because I am always searching around the house for the silly nickel/5cents. I have nieces and nephews in NY state who are in elementary school and high school. They have a FREE school bus that picks them right up at the door. It is the responsibility of the school officials, city officials, police and the transportation to help our students get home safely from school! Thank you, Mr. De la cruz for raising your voice about this important issue.
Dear Mr. De La Cruz: Your customer contact of Friday, February 8 has been forwarded to me for a response and follow up. Friday's service to Newark Junior High School was delayed because the Hayward division, which operates that service, initially received information that there was no school that day. That information proved to be incorrect. As soon as we discovered this, upon hearing from the school, we sent a bus to pick up any students who might still have been present and needed a ride home. I apologize for this lapse in our communications and service. As a parent whose son rode AC Transit buses throughout his middle and high school years, I understand the importance of reliable service, particularly for those who have no alternative. We thank you for your patronage and hope your children will continue to utilize our service. Sincerely,
A few questions. Where or from whom did your Hayward division get the notification that there was to be no school that day? Once they discovered the information to have been incorrect, probably from the morning since the kids were not picked up for school (speculating), why couldn't a bus then be on time for the afternoon pick up? The delta being almost 6 hours. I apologize in advance for my directness but I find it much more efficient than being PC; besides, gunnys are not known for being PC. So, I must say, being that this was not the first time, there seems to be some incompetence somewhere; why would you be paying a salary to an incompetent person or team? I really don't see the magic required in fixing this. If it's politics, then you certainly have a broken system and therefore bigger problems.
The original content of this article was trying to address the problem of students in the Newark community not having reliable transportation to/from their schools. Some of the students who go to the high school have to travel has far as 4 miles each way to get to school, so walking is really not an option. "Guns" mentions that there are communities that have the yellow school buses which provide FREE transportation for students. He is right because my out-of-state family members have this service and the yellow school buses drop students off at their door steps. I inquired several times about the transportation issue for students in Newark. I went to the high school and spoke in person to a Vice Principal last year (Japanese last name) about this matter and he brushed me off and dismissed me. I also sent an email to the Newark Memorial PTA asking for transportation suggestions. I wrote messages on the Patch about the traffic congestion and getting students home from school after the student was murdered. No leader within the school district or city responded to me. I understand that adult residents are wishing for improvements in the AC Transit system but this article was really designed to address the problem of students getting safely and promptly to and from their homes to school. I would be grateful if the Newark Patch would contact the Superintendant's office of about the importance of this matter. Sincerely, Julie
Dear all, Well that's a funny how do you do; to not only forget about our kids last Friday, but to do it again TODAY!? Seriously folks?!? There has GOT to be somebody getting ready to get fired here. What kind of profitable business consistently prefers to place such a low priority on its customers and in this case the safety of children? In what world can such a disregard for our community be acceptable? This is infuriating!!
Sure, the Designated Mouthpiece will Provide Lip Service (Beach, Charles!) and ultimately attempt to Calm you down but in the end no Progress is made. Sure every other decade the people change, but their all the same like minded individuals. If I ever have a Spawn I am NEVER, EVER enrolling them into NUSD. In my Opinion NUSD is like the EZ 8 Motel of Education. One Notch above no Education and 50 below a Mediocre one. LOL.