First Student Substitute Driver Forgets to Pick Up Elementary School Kids in West Baton Rouge Parish

First Student right here in West Baton Rouge Parish on Thursday slipped up again. A substitute bus driver for bus 5 completely forgot to pick up his route at Brusly Elementary, leaving an entire busload of kids stranded at the school with the school's staff, and some of the latest getting home almost 2 hours after school ended.

You may also want to see my write up on my experience with First Student and their dispatcher, who blames these issues on the parish, not First Student, here.

P.S: Thanks to Steve Purdom, who reminded me of this issue.

First Student Employees in Troublesome Savannah, Georgia Location Speak Out in Favor of First Student

WTOC 11 Savannah, GA has had their hands full with First Student stories. I should know, many of their stories have been covered here. Now, employees at First Student's yard in Savannah went on local radio station WSOK radio to defend the bus company and assure parents that First Student's buses are safe and they know what they are doing.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate and listen to the conversation, however this does show an interesting turn of events for First Student: Instead of hiding and giving textbook answers (which I am extremly familiar with), this location took a proactive approach, and actually took questions from the community. Whether they were taking the usual route of "it's not our fault" or actually taking blame for the incidents I don't know, and hopefully someone can let me know.

This actually brings up a conversation I had with a First Student dispatcher in West Baton Rouge Parish earlier today. I called the office, just a little perturbed (waiting 45 minutes for a bus after school lets out is not exactly timely bus service) and asked to speak to a supervisor. The employee answering phones transferred me to a dispatcher, Yolandre Moore, who basically blamed the wait on the bus taking three routes. A "North" route (Port Allen schools), a South (Brusly and Addis) Elementary route, and then our route. Elementary school kids were still on the bus, which is not exactly safe (Why? Go find a 2nd grader, then find a 8th grader. Got it?) Then she blamed that on the parish not providing enough money for buses. So, what happened to all that money given to them in the original five-year contract?

I'm going to place calls in to the school board this weekend, and hopefully they'll get back to me next week.

4 Children Injured After Non-Inspected Cooling Hoses Fail on First Student Bus

From WTOC 11 Savannah, Georgia (Which has been doing a lot of FS stories lately):

On Friday, four Southwest Middle School students went to the hospital after the engine cooling system on the bus erupted, spraying hot antifreeze at the children.

The same thing happened on another bus on the same day. Now, First Student is taking some serious measures to prevent any more mechanical malfunctions.

I wouldn't normally cover this if this happened once, but twice on the same day. And then this quote from a First Student manager:

"Both buses had same hoses, same failure and same location," said Cawthon. "The hose closest to the wall ruptured which allowed coolant and steam to escape the access cover and into the compartment."...

...First Student operations manager Randy Samples says he's never heard of anything like this before and the cooling system isn't normally something that needs to be inspected.

First Student: Please inspect everything.
Oh, and it's School Bus Safety Week.

Teamster's Message to Former Laidlaw, now First Student Drivers: "...there is a major problem somewhere in this company."

Teamsters, a major union pushing against First Student's anti-union practices, released a message on it's page School Bus Workers United to former Laidlaw drivers who now find themselves working for First Student following the merger. The write up represents some interesting points about what exactly goes on at First Student's yards. Some interesting quotes from the article:

Another thing I recently witnessed in a location this school year, the contract manager at a First Student location in Maine announced to the workers they were giving each one of them a raise! The workers were happy they would be getting a raise until the contract manager told them it would be a five cent an hour raise!!

Someone else do the math, I don't feel like it.

Those of us who have been organizing in First Student locations weren't surprised by this amount~ this is the same company who makes their employees beg for toilet paper, office supplies, and anything else that is NOT IN THE BUDGET!!!

Always low budget, always.

Many First Student locations are run like a low budget flick! They want to run the routes as cheaply as possible, whether it means using unsafe equipment or not purchasing supplies that are needed to keep the operation running smoothly. When the mechanics have to ask to purchase motor oil or the company fails to pay their bills and lose service or the privilege of charging fuel there's a major problem somewhere in this company. [Emphasis added]

Best line anyone could have said. The entire post could have just said that and it would be correct. There is a major problem somewhere at First Student.

What may be even more interesting are the comments posted on the page by readers. I'll share one:

I am a Laidlaw driver now First Student. I am also a teamster. I have worked for a mom and pop school bus company that was swallowed up by Laidlaw. I have experienced a big company taking over. Laidlaw was number one in the business. Now I would assume that First Student will be Number One. I have spoken to several First Student drivers recently and I have also researched the First Student handbook. After filling myself with so much information I am ready to explode. -Donna LeMay

And that may be the most important part. With First Student now at #1, and void of any real, major nationwide competition, can they do just anything? The problem with contracting out school bus services is that there isn't that much choice. Basically it's now just First Student and maybe some local or regional companies. So, what happens? When you go to contracting, you really can't go back to managing your own system again. It would cost too much to start over. Eventually you run out of companies. The best solution to bus services is to do it yourself. But if it isn't possible, can't these school districts look into the past of some of these companies?

Because if your school district chose First Student, clearly they didn't.

Fired First Student Regains Contract Through Laidlaw Aquisition

The Columbus City School District fired First Student last year for failing to run background checks on it's drivers, a violation of contract and state law. They instead hired Laidlaw Education Services. Yes, clearly the best alternative to keeping a bad company is hiring a company that bad company is about to buy. However, being smart, they put a few tricks in the contract to keep the newly-merged First Student from changing the Laidlaw managers.

Full story here ->

Former Laidlaw Drivers in St. Louis Walk Out

Drivers working for the former Laidlaw are walking out of their jobs, claiming that First Student, which recently increased the pay of their First Student drivers in the city, is not extending those pay raises to them because they are unionized.

Full Story

Savannah Mother Upset with First Student's Safety Practices

From WTOC 11:

Earlier, we reported on a Savannah, Georgia First Student yard joining a union, but one mother is still upset with First Student, after her son was hurt on a First bus.

She says it all started when a bus broke down, and First Student had to squeeze two busloads of children onto one bus. Stockton says it was a terrible ride.

"There was nowhere to sit down and it wasn't safe," he said. "Kids were standing up and when she slammed on her brakes, kids were screaming."

I don't think I personally have been stuffed in a bus of 2 in 1, but that doesn;t exactly seem safe (although the story doesn't specify how full each bus was).

While officials didn't want to go on camera, they do say the bus driver was unfamiliar with the route, and did make some quick stops because, according to the bus driver, the children weren't giving her much notice before their stops.

Bus driver unfamiliar with route? Uh, yeah, that happens way to much.

First Students say their bus driver followed proper procedures and was not at fault for what happened on the bus.

Yeah, their going to admit they're at fault.

Full Story

Moir Lockhead Speaks About First/Laidlaw

Interesting video interview with the CEO of FirstGroup, Moir Lockhead about the FirstGroup/Laidlaw merger.

FirstGroup and Laidlaw Officially Merge

Laidlaw is gone. As of today, visiting Laidlaw.com redirects you to FirstGroup America's new site. The two transit giants have officially merged to form "Ma Wheel".

The redesigned website has some interesting things to say about the future of our "favorite" bus company:

• Over 98,000 employees are now working for FirstGroup, although they don't specify whether this is international or just in America...
• Stating the obvious, Laidlaw Education Services and Laidlaw Transit Services, their school and city bus services, respectively, will join with First Student and First Transit.
• In a surprising move, Greyhound will retain a seperate unit as well as retain it's brand, so no First Greyhound after all.

If you'd like to read the specifics, their offical merger info page is available here.

I, for one, would be interested in hearing what they're doing to improve the First Student experience.