It’s now been nearly two months since Boston Public Schools unveiled new technology intended to improve the reliability and on-time performance of the buses that transport thousands of students.
As NBC10 Boston reported in September, the bus-tracking mobile app, Zum, had a rocky rollout when the school year began. On the first day of class, two-thirds of the buses were late.
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So are parents seeing any improvement of when buses are picking up or dropping off their children?
NBC10 Boston requested the bus report card from BPS and found out so far this year, on-time performance is still not making the grade.
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Zum allows parents to track their kids’ rides in real time and allows bus drivers to use GPS on tablets to follow their routes.
The three-year agreement comes with a hefty price tag for taxpayers, according to figures BPS provided. The district will pay $1.3 million in the first year, followed by a quarter-million dollars in subsequent years.
Despite that investment, the majority of days during the current school year scored worse in on-time performance compared to last year.
That includes each of the 35 days measured during afternoon drop-off.