Councilor Flynn continues push for state intervention in BPS bus issues, says city leaders ‘continue to downplay it’

City Councilor Ed Flynn continued to argue for state intervention to assist with the BPS late buses issue Monday, pushing back a day after the Boston City Council president called such a move “definitely premature.”

“My colleagues and city officials continue to downplay it, but for the better part of a month, I’ve been working with BPS due to a flood of reports from parents about buses transporting kids late by a half hour, an hour, or two hours — if the buses show up at all,” Flynn said, responding to Council President Ruthzee Louijeune’s statements on WCVB aired Sunday.

The debate comes in response to a higher-than-normal rate of late BPS buses in the first three weeks of school, attributed by officials to the new GPS technology through the Zum app and an unprecedented number of late enrollments and route changes.

Though only a third of buses showed up on time on the first day of school, bus performance has seen progress, reaching into the 80th percentile for on-time arrival and 90th for within 15 minutes as of Wednesday last week.

Flynn said throughout seven years as a city councilor, “I’ve never seen it this bad.” Flynn and Councilor Erin Murphy previously spoke to the state education board about an investigation into the issue last week, noting that BPS has delayed any meeting with the city council into late October.