COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than 38,000 Columbus City Schools students depend on the bus to get to and from school. Wednesday morning, students braced for a big change: A new bus route schedule in the middle of the school year. That meant a new bus driver, new pickup and drop off times and possibly a new bus stop location.
Rowan Wampler, 7, was excited. It was her first time riding the school bus. The changes moved her bus stop closer to their home, so her parents decided to try the bus system.
According to the district, a bus driver shortage combined with a software issue is what ultimately led to an overhaul of the bus transportation system. The district tells 10TV the morning went relatively well. Rowan’s mom can agree with that.
“The pick-up was fine. Everything went good with the pick-up. It was on time and friendly,” Emily Wampler said.
But it was the ride back home that took a frightening turn for this family.
“I was thinking that I’d never get home,” Rowan said.
The first grader was supposed to be dropped off at 5 p.m. But there was no sign of Rowan.
“Was my child dropped off at a wrong place, did someone take her? I called the police and if she wouldn’t have walked off that bus at 6:34 p.m., the police were on their way,” Wampler says.
For more than an hour and a half, Wampler says she had no idea where her daughter was. She knew it was a new route and some changes had taken place, but she was panicking.
“Thirty or 45 minutes, we would roll with that and be flexible but when we hit an hour or more than an hour, it becomes a safety issue,” Wampler says. “It’s late at night, my daughter’s afraid, she’s very tired, she got off school at 3 o’clock.”
To make matters worse, the Wamplers couldn’t get through to the district’s transportation call center.
“We could not reach anyone by the hotline they say call. My husband was on hold for the entire hour and a half, and we couldn’t reach anyone,” Wampler added.
CCS is aware of long wait times and the district has made some improvements.
“We’ve doubled the number of staff who are in our transportation call center to help alleviate all of those calls coming in, so the families aren’t on hold for a long time,” says Scott Varner, CCS Director of Family Engagement.
In a statement to 10tv, the district explained… “The transportation team is doing its best to get students to and from school safely and in a timely manner. The department will review how the day went, and determine what adjustments need to be made to improve efficiency in its service.”
But for the Wampler family, it may be too little too late.
“It was absolutely terrifying, and I am never going to use their buses again and I do want to hold Columbus City School buses accountable for this happening. It's scary for kids, it's scary for parents, it's not okay,” Wampler said.
You can read the statement from CCS here:
"I understand the frustration a parent may have when their child’s bus is late. Today is the first day for the new route changes. Some of the buses were delayed this afternoon due to parents not being at the bus stop at the new times to pick up students who required a family member to be present. When this happens, the driver may wait as attempts are made to contact the parent, causing delays. Or the driver will continue with the route and circle back to the stop, which causes further delays.
The morning went relatively well for our Transportation team. We had more than enough drivers this morning and afternoon to cover all routes - which was a key component of our efforts to be a more reliable transportation partner with our parents. Because we had unassigned drivers, we were able to run a handful of “sweeper buses” to go out and pick up any students who may have missed their new pick up time. We haven’t been able to run sweeper buses for a long time. The rain led to some traffic delays across the city during rush hour this morning, which did cause a small number of our buses to run behind.
On several occasions, our Transportation Call Center line reached its capacity - and instead of having people sit on hold for an extended period of time, the system ends the call. We’ve updated the line to encourage families to call back later.
We continue to encourage families who are concerned that their bus did not show up to call into the Transportation Call Center at 614-365-5074 or check with their student’s school to double check the new route information (we hope families were not out waiting at stops or times from their old bus routes).
The transportation team is doing its best to get student[s] to and from school safely and in a timely manner. The department will review how the day went, and determine what adjustments that need to be made to improve efficiency in its service."