Local school transportation director explains delays in bus routes

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — If you think your child’s school bus is running late, there’s a good reason for that.

On any given day, the Jackson-Madison County school bus system is picking up more than 6,000 students with around 120 buses.

Transportation Director Bryan Chandler says on days like these, he receives a number of calls claiming a bus never came by.

“Any time we have inclement weather, we’re going to have some delays,” Chandler said.

The explanation? Typically, in bad weather, students aren’t standing by their usual spot, and that short time difference multiplies.

“Let’s say, for example, they’re standing in the porch, or maybe they’re inside the house watching for the bus,” Chandler said. “And let’s say every student has a 15, 20-second delay. If you multiply that by 50 or 60 stops, you can start to run delays.”

Now there is a system that ensures all these buses are going where they need to be.

There’s a GPS tracker in the front of each unit, which tracks their speed and their location every 15 seconds, and sends that information back to the transportation center.

Chandler says when they receive a call or report, they check that system.

“If we see that we did not go by that spot for some reason, then we dispatch another bus out there to pick up that student,” Chandler said.

“We ask for a 15-minute window on the side of each normal pick-up time,” Chandler said.

And the district also has a way that parents can keep up with their child’s bus schedule.

“We notify the school, and the schools are asked to use their all call system to notify parents that that bus is running late,” Chandler said.

Chandler says that if a bus will be unusually late, the specific school will receive an alert.