LSTA Director Avraham Krawiec provided TLS with the following update regarding the busing situation in Lakewood.
1- The process of bidding is coming to an end by this Monday. It has taken longer than we hoped for, but at that point every school will have been routed and bid on. This is then followed by vendor collaboration on routes (meaning, one vendor may have a morning and another may have a night run and thus more routes could be picked up)
2- Until vendor negotiation we have had to bid the mornings and night routes of the schools together, after the bidding process, we can work on the one-ways as well, and hopefully collaborate.
3- There are lots of buses available at 4:45 pm, and some schools are maneuvering to work around that availability.
4- There are also a lot of buses available for late night runs.
5- Numbers 3 and 4 can be worked on following all the bidding.
6- One past vendor will be joining vendor negations and iyh adding more buses to the equation.
7- We are working on other creative solutions – such as, cluster stops in certain neighborhoods that have a lot of students from the same school not yet picked up to allow for a shorter route for the vendors to fill up their availability and to enable transportation for more families.
8- We aren’t nearly finished in our efforts to get as many kids as possible on the buses.
9- After we get this settled, and well on the way, I will need all of your thoughts and ideas on how to solve the continuing challenge that we will face yearly – whether it’s Jackson and Toms River, the tremendous growth b’h, and everything and anything else. So many of you have already sent in your ideas for a better future for our busing system.
10- We are still very well aware of the frustrations and challenge that this endeavor is presently causing, and that’s what’s driving us to solve this to the best of our ability in the shortest amount of time.
11- For a faster response email [email protected]
[TLS]
Cluster stops sounds like what they already did in Westgate.
I am still extremely frustrated that my children don’t have bussing. Especially after not having last year. We spend hours carpooling each day and I worry that the one’s that have the power to fix the situation don’t realize our desperation and problems it is causing our livelihoods. Though the updates and quick responses to emails are very refreshing from a public company. It shows effort and professionalism. I hope to see the results soon.
We feel like second class citizens. We send to the smaller newer schools, bec we cannot get into the big “name brand schools” AND then on top of that we dont get bussing. All the big name brand schools have their busses…. Like i said second class citizens.
I love spending 2.5 hours of my day in the car.
Very sad. Plain and simple.
If there are so many buses available at 4:45, then why the heck doesn’t Tashbar having busing at that time????
what I would like to know is why my son’s school had busing home the first week of school and now for the past 2 weeks there has been no busing home.
Do you know when boys High Schools will get bussing?
If you reside in Toms River or Jackson your eligible for bussing? You don’t have to live in Lakewood township? If true then what about Deal, West long branch, Highland park? Traffic has really eased though so that’s a result if some of their effort. BTW the bicycle idea sounds good, but there’s a surge in bike riders and not all are so responsible or lit up well at night.
To answer #2
The Schools That Have A Member On The Board Have Busing.Yes It’s Unfortunate That That’s Th e way it is in this town.
Just wondering if the b.o.e.’s new buses are being used to their max (ie. routes after public school starts and after they end)? With the latest start time 8am they can do a boys morn. run followed by a girls morn. run. The same with the afternoon, with them done by 2:30 how many pm runs are they doing? They quietly got alot of new buses this summer and it would be scandalous if they are only being used for public school runs if they can also be used for private school runs.
What would’ve been much smarter would’ve been to bid out the small school first which have more complex routes. And then at the end we would’ve been left with just a few large schools without busing but more venders would’ve come in, as there’s easier routes remaining, schools that can handle the carpool traffic, and it would’ve been cheaper in total.
Not the way it’s now that a few startup schools will be left without busing entirely, and partner won’t have neighbors to car pool with. Not
First off all the big schools do not have bussing.
Cluster stops are really dangerous. 50 kids on the corner of hillside in westgate is a big danger.
My girls hs ends at 445. Why don’t they have busing.
I know ur working real hard, but seems like there hasn’t been any changes.
why not do cluster stops by origination not destination?
I was wondering the same thing about the Lakewood Township BOE Buses. Why can’t they pick up som of the routes?
My 1st grade daughter got a bus pass in error as a primary girl that are dismissed earlier. Do I get reimbursed for her as well as my other 5 kids without busing or do they leave her out?? Just asking…..
what happened to Central Bus Service? I havent seen a single bus in Lakewood this year. is that why there are less routes picked up? My sons bus company last year was Central Bus.
I have another question.
why did we have to pay $150 for courtesy busing, and the PUBLIC SCHOOLS DID NOT!????
My son’s high school which ends late does NOT have ANY busing, not morning nor evening, not for anyone? As per #4: I thought there are “late night buses available”? we live 3.5 miles from the HS… one wonder…. whose getting all the “cuts” here…
First thanks tls for the updates! But there has been absolutely no changes. The phrase “it should be settled by Monday” is getting real old and annoying. I drive and pick up everyday and don’t mind but when there’s crazy traffic with people driving like idiots thinking they r the onky ones in s rush is pathetic. The school officials that have schools that pushed Only for their schools to get bussing are the same school officials that couldnt fix this dumb mess up from last year and they should be REPLACED ASAP! New school officials that know what they r doing and r not just there because who they r related to should replace those idiots. Hope this gets resolved ASAP.
I know 2 schools that get out at 4:45 and no bus so something doesnt add up.
i emailed the LSTA many times and have not received any reply.
jays bought central and all the buses are rebranded as jays.
the board of ed cannot use their buses for the lsta because it is a private corporation
U don’t see central bus service cuz it was bought out by jays.