ComplaintsforFirst Student

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  My children are bused to school by first student in the ******* **** School District of ******** County, **. They take bus 717. From 1/2/24-1/5/24 the bus arrived at least 20 minutes late for pickup. On Friday 1/5/24, I had to drive my children to work because the driver did not arrive to work on time. There are several issues with this. The first one is that first student does not have a notification system to let parents and children know how late the bus is running. Because of this, my children have had to wait outside in the cold all four days for 20 minutes or longer. It also causes them to get to school late and miss learning time. On Friday, it caused me to get to work late because I had to take them to school because the driver was so late that they would’ve missed half or all of first period. The most egregious issue is that I called Mike P***** (Bus Depot Manager) on Thursday, Friday, and Monday to inquire about his plan to fix the issue. I left several messages for him and he has not returned my call. This is unacceptable and unprofessional.

  Business response

  01/22/2024

  Michael P***** the LM was out sick the first week of January when this parent tried to call him . This parent was called by the dispatcher Melissa S****** explaining that they had a lot of drivers out due to Covid after the Holidays . We have recently added FirstView to this school district, which is our parent APP, and the parent was instructed to sign up so they will be aware of when the bus should arrive .
  
  Our driver pool has improved the past couple of weeks so they should not be inconvenienced with late buses going forward . 

  Customer response

  01/24/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  I was not contacted by Melissa. I spoke to her because I continued to try to get in touch with Mike and happened to reach her. I was also not informed of the driver pool being affected by an increase of Covid. I was told specifically by someone in dispatch (not Melissa) that my children’s bus driver was on vacation and that the covering driver had to drive from ********. I was confused by this because that didn’t tell me how they planned to fix the lateness with the bus. Furthermore, I mentioned to the same person in the dispatch office that we are not alerted to when the bus is late and therefore cannot prevent our children from sitting in the cold and waiting for the bus. I was not told about an app at that point. It was not until I called and reached Melissa that I was given that information. Part of the issue could’ve been alleviated with proper communication and knowledge about the first view app. The response from the business is filled with half truth. My next step if this continues to happen is to go as high as I can with the school board. 
  

  I also attached a post via social media about ******* **** Transportation and their rude employees. The post from two days ago shows that the buses have come late and they have not completed educated parents about the first view app to prevent their children from getting to school late.  

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ********
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  The bus company on purpose bought buses with new budget money with no air-conditioning. The first three days of school there was a heatwave. Our students were left on the bus for over 45 minutes in those conditions They also on purpose are giving buses that are breaking down for our students. I personally think this bus company is cutting corners and pennypinching to increase profits The safety of our students should be top tier priority. End of story.

• Initial Complaint

  12/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Bus 10 coming from elm city middle school was compared with bus 9 my daughter was sitting on the floor the driver was driving reckless putting my daughter who was sitting on floor and other kids in danger when ask to slow down or when the kids address there opinion she got disrespectful and told kids to get there mother contact me

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  11/14/23 I was 6 minutes late to meet my son getting off the bus. I was on the phone with ****** from the "bus barn"....and told her that I was pulling in behind the bus, honking, and they kept driving. She said she would dispatch the driver to pull over and she hung up the phone. I called her back to ask her where exactly the bus pulled over, because I could no longer see the bus ( it turned off the street). She began YELLING at me, to "just come to the Bus Barn" and get your kid." EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL AND DISRESPECTFUL BEHAVIOR. When I got there, I spoke with her and she continued to be disrespectful. When the bus arrived with my son, I told the bus driver that I was behind them, honking. She told me she was aware. I asked her why she didnt pull over...and she told me, because ****** told her NOT TO PULL OVER. This is ridiculous. I'm not sure what kind of games ****** and her staff are playing here, but it will not be tolerated. I would like to see some policies, in writing, that state a grace period, in case a parent is caught in traffic. Certainly, I'm not the only parent that has been 6 minutes late. The staff and the supervisor need to learn how to respectfully engage with parents. I understand that it's an inconvenience to have parents that are late...but it's no excuse for her ******'S behavior.

  Business response

  11/17/2023

  This has been in on going issue with this parent being late to pick her child up.  ******, the dispatcher was not rude based on a driver's statement who witnessed the incident in the office and ******’s statement.  ****** stated that Ms. ****** cell phone kept dropping the call, she never hung up on Ms. ****.  The Location Manager pulled GPS, the route was 5 minutes late to the stop and sat at the stop for 3 minutes waiting for the parent to arrive, the parent never arrived even though she told dispatch she was 2 minutes away. Route was told to continue on to drop off 1 more student, while in route dispatched radio route to pull over because Mom was behind the bus honking, route driver never saw mom behind the bus and we would not have pulled over until we reached the next bus stop per district policy and for the safety of the student.  The location manager listened to video and nothing was said unprofessional on the radio by the route driver and dispatcher.  The district is aware of the incident and will being sending the parent a letter about being on time.    

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Since last school year, this bus company’s bus does not come and pick up my son in a timely manner the latest my son can be to school is ***. The bus sometimes does not reach the stop until *** which would make my son late for school so I’ve been taking him to school in the morning the bus drivers are never on time to pick up the children, sometimes the buses don’t even have the GPS trackers on leaving parents worried on the whereabouts of their children. This place has been contacted numerous times from numerous parents, and none of the issues are ever resolved. Something needs to be done because this is ridiculous.

• Initial Complaint

  09/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Good morning, I'm filing this grievance today against First Student Bus Company, because they are always late picking up my my kids as well as the other kids here. I am currently residing in a family emergency shelter located a****  ********** *** **** ******* *** *****, this Is an ongoing issue. My kids are always late to school, and miss breakfast. I feel like we are not a top priority because we are homeless. It is now 9:11am and I have been outside a little before 7am . I had to stop working because the way the bus runs. I feel that this is unacceptable, and they need to do way better.

• Initial Complaint

  09/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Thelis company is contracted for ensuring that student will be picked up and dropped of to and from school. These buses aren't showing up at all. Depriving student of being in attendance to get an education. They're also on the bus routes because they don't live close enough to walk to school. In addition, if the parents don't have a car they can't get the kids to school after sitting at the bus for 30 minutes of no shows. This is simply unacceptable and a sad excuse for 1st student bus 2015. They passed a law fining and locking parents up for children not making it to school. This stuff right here creates a catch 22 for all parents. I have only been able to put my child on the bus 3 times since school started. I even came to the stop 30 minutes in advance and still no show. I am about to lose my job because the bus doesn't show for my child. I think this is unfair because the other students that ride the same bus are being picked up. Shame on you 1st student.

• Initial Complaint

  08/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/08, my 3 year old, nonverbal, developmentally disabled son was taken to the wrong daycare by a First Student transport bus because the driver was given an outdated roster from her headquarters. This is unacceptable and if I had not been available at the time the daycare he was taken to called me I don’t know what would have happened to him! When we give custody of our most precious children over to a third party these types of mistakes are unacceptable.

  Business response

  08/09/2023

  Looks like this is not exactly what happened.  Bottom line, the child was never left at the wrong daycare.  The school attempted to coordinate with the driver directly and put the child on the wrong bus.  In addition, there was an update on the route and the Driver went to the old daycare.  However, it was identified on arrival and the child was taken to the correct location.  We reached out to the mother this morning and discussed what happened as well as communicated to the school that they need to coordinate with dispatch  to have visibility of any changes to routing.

• Initial Complaint

  07/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 21, 2023, First Student School bus#212 drove on to my paved driveway to turn around, causing damage to the asphalt. There are now deep groves in the driveway as this full-sized bus was too heavy for a residential driveway. Email to head office has not been returned. A local branch was unable to locate the bus.

  Business response

  07/15/2023

  Originally our Stratford Location received a call with a report of a bus doing a turnaround in a laneway in Cambridge (17 **** Street) on June 21st.
  The location did not have a bus with that number or in the area at that time. The location Manager did speak with ********** a couple of times and did try to assist to locate the bus #112.
  
  I believe I have now located the bus and location; I will have the location Manager reach out to the customer and investigate this complaint. Once we have a reply from the location manager we can update the reply.

  Business response

  07/24/2023

  called her again last Thursday to give her an update.  I let her know that this was reported to our insurance adjuster who she should be hearing from soon.   The reference number I have with ******** is *******

  Customer response

  07/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ** ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  This issue remains unresolved.  I have spoken with the insurance company.  Next steps are for me to obtain a quote to repair the damage and forward it to the insurance company for their review.

  Until such time as my driveway has been repaired at no cost to me I will not consider this issue to be resolved.  Communication with the bus company and the insurance company has been timely, collaborative and courteous.
  
  Regards,
  
  ********** Butler Tournadre
  

• Initial Complaint

  05/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The Driver of Bus ***** * at *** **** seems to be having some kind of mental breakdown or severe mental illness which has compromised her ability to make sound decisions. All school year, we have had several bus drivers that showed up either early or late to pick up or drop off my kid from school. The driver we have now is the newest driver. Since she started her job, she has been picking up my daughter earlier than the previous driver did in the mornings. The driver decided out of nowhere without talk to me about it, that she would start showing up very early around 6:17am or 6:20am. So we kept missing the bus in the mornings as that was not the normal pick up time. And does Tynisha W**** answer her phone to tell the driver to come back to our stop? No. Tynisha W**** is basically just there for decoration. She only wants to talk if it's negative. Negativity is what excites people like her. So I had to speak to the driver myself. I asked her what time exactly she will be coming in the mornings. She said earlier around 6:20am instead of 6:37am like the previous driver. So I said, that's fine. So for a few weeks now, the driver has been showing up early. Evidence of this is on the app. The bus tracking app will show u the arrival times of the bus. She has been arriving very early and picking up my child. But then two days ago, she decided all by herself that she doesn't want to do that anymore. So we came to the bus stop early around 6:20 expecting the bus driver to pick us up as usual. Instead she drove to the ******* across the street and just parked her car there for over 10 minutes. See image attached. After waiting a while and not seeing the bus I checked the app and thought we had missed the bus and almost drove away, only to check the app closer to find that the bus was parked this whole time at *******. I was LIVID. she refused to pick up my daughter and didn't come to our bus stop. I had to drive to ******* to put my kid in the bus.

  Business response

  05/17/2023

  There have been 3 instances now of issues with this parent that we are aware of.  Additionally, Tynisha W***** is the Transportation Director for *** ****.
  
  Earlier this year this parent complained to the BBB. This was sent after the parent entered our bus and accosted the driver because our driver wouldn’t let the student off the bus without the parent showing an ID or bus card.

  
  “Mrs. H*** (driver) did report that this mother is never at the stop on time am or pm. H*** told me that she had been getting to the stop early but waiting at the stop and the mother was not there on time. The stop time is 6:37am. On 5/9/2023 H*** was early to the stop, so she parked at the ******* until her stop time, the mother tracked the bus to ******* and wanted to put her child on the bus at that time and it was not a designated stop. Child was put on the bus by her mother anyway and drive off. H*** then when to the stop on ******* & ***** for 6:38 am. H*** reported that on 5/10/2023 that the mother did the same thing again as she was waiting at the *******.  On 5/10/2023 the Driver was at the stop on time for 6:37am and left the stop @ 6:39am.  This parent is not willing to follow the rules.”

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩