An agreement between city officials and school bus companies averts an immediate crisis for some of the 150,000 yellow bus riders, but it’s unclear if the deal will address notoriously poor service.

A coalition of the largest bus companies agreed Thursday to a 30- to 60-day temporary extension that maintains service. The Panel for Educational Policy, which is in charge of approving contracts, will consider a two- to three-year deal with tighter requirements at its next meeting in November.

But the latest example of school bus brinksmanship highlights the complexities of achieving long-term improvements to a dysfunctional system. Bus company executives who attended contentious public hearings this week acknowledged they could do better, but said the city must reform its handling of school bus operations, as well.

Additionally, the competitive bidding process and new contracts many parents want hinge on a legislative fix in Albany that has so far proved elusive.

Still, parents, advocates and city officials lauded the deal, calling it a victory for kids. They praised members of the Panel for Educational Policy for rejecting a five-year deal bus company officials said they hashed out with the Adams administration.

“Bus transportation will continue as usual this Monday Nov 3, without interruption,” education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said in a statement. “We appreciate the vendors reconsidering their position and recognizing how devastating this would be for our most vulnerable students in the nation’s largest school system.”

The complex issue of school bus contracts reemerged earlier this month when the coalition of large bus companies threatened to halt service and lay off workers when their current contract lapsed on Nov. 1.

City officials had been extending the contract on a month-to-month basis in hopes of negotiating new and stronger terms following an outcry from parents and advocates who have seized on the contracts as a way to force improvements to the troubled system. Parents have complained for many years about absurdly long routes, as well as buses that show up hours late or not at all for weeks or months on end.

“Let’s stay strong,” parent Maggie Sanchez urged officials at one of multiple public meetings this week. She called bus companies’ threat to halt service “a manufactured crisis.”

Parents, drivers and bus company executives turned out to those meetings in force. Drivers said they were terrified of losing their jobs, while parents said any disruption to service would be catastrophic, especially for students with complex disabilities who would not be able to attend school without yellow buses. Some parents said if buses stopped running Monday, when SNAP benefits are also likely to run out, kids would be missing out on school meals, an essential source of nutrition.

An educational panel expects to consider a new multiyear deal with school bus companies in November.

Heidi Norton

Scores of parents described delayed and no-show buses that lead to hours of missed instruction, and inefficient routes that stretch kids’ commutes more than two hours each way. Some parents said they relied on Airtags to track their kids because the GPS on buses either doesn’t work or isn’t turned on. They pointed to a lack of accountability as many delays fail to appear in official records. Gothamist reported on the flawed city data about school bus delays earlier this year.

Bus companies said they need a longer term contract to cover costs for operations, labor, equipment and real estate. They promised to do better while pinning blame for some problems on the education department.

“The public is right to challenge us to be better, to do better,” said Joseph Sgro, senior vice president of the bus company Total Transportation. “However, it’s worth noting that the vast majority of issues were for things like routing, elongated travel time, and crowded buses, which are all things that fall outside of the school bus companies’ control. We remain committed to doing our part in improving the service.”

Contracts for some of the largest companies haven’t been overhauled for 45 years and expired over the summer. Bus company leaders said they had worked out the terms of a new five-year contract with the Adams administration over the past year. One bus company representative brought a stack of copies to Wednesday’s public meeting as proof.

But, despite those negotiations, members of the Panel for Educational Policy said they would stand with parents and refused to sign off on a five-year deal just days before a new mayor is elected.

In a statement, Rich Bamberger, a spokesperson for the attorney representing large bus companies, said the companies “have serious concerns about the entire process, but we want and need to work with the PEP.”

He added: “This emergency extension will allow us to bring all parties to the table to work everything out.“

The Panel for Educational Policy is a vestige of the old school board, with a majority of members appointed by the mayor. Critics have called it redundant and toothless. Randi Levine, policy director for Advocates for Children of New York, praised the panel’s independence, and its decision not to “rubber-stamp an agreement to extend the status quo for the rest of the decade when school bus service has long been in dire need of improvement.”

Comptroller Brad Lander also lauded the panel’s move.

“Not being locked into five-year bus contracts is a victory for students, parents, drivers and workers,” he said in a statement. He encouraged the next mayoral administration to negotiate “stronger performance metrics, better responsiveness to parents, better wages for drivers, and guaranteed after-school service.”

But significant obstacles remain in the fight for better service.

The contracts include a seniority protection for drivers that unions consider essential, but courts have ruled illegal. The provision guarantees drivers priority hiring at other companies, at the same wages, if their current companies fold.

Union leaders have said the protection is a key incentive for workers amid an ongoing driver shortage and have threatened to strike without it.

But courts have ruled the provision is anticompetitive and barred it from being written into new contracts. So the city has been extending the old contracts that include the labor provision, saying the only solution is for state legislators in Albany to change the law.

Officials have said they hope the two-year extension gives state lawmakers time to pass legislation that paves the way for new contracts and better service.

Advocates for better busing urged parents and drivers to press state legislators with the same vigor they brought to this week’s meetings.