New San Diego School Bus Computers Leave Pupils in the Lurch

Brian Konishi of Encanto is an easygoing 15-year-old sophomore who is just trying to get to school on time, but the San Diego Unified School District isn’t cooperating.

Since school opened nine days ago, he has stood patiently at 6:58 a.m. waiting for his bus. Each day the overcrowded school bus passes him by.

If he’s lucky, another bus comes along a few hours later and takes him to Patrick Henry High School. By that time he has missed two to three hours of school and three classes, including history and English. If no bus shows up, he has to call his mother at work to take him.

Konishi is just one of thousands of students in San Diego who in the last nine days have literally been left behind as the school district struggles to de-bug its new $1-million computerized bus routing system.

“I’ve missed two to three classes each day,” lamented Konishi, who is part of the district’s voluntary integration program. “The bus just goes by and then we have to wait two to three hours for another bus to come. Sometimes it comes and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m getting behind in my classes. It’s like starting two weeks late.”

Disgruntled parents, especially those with children in special education or in the integration programs, have flooded the school district with complaints since school opened Sept. 9.

Dan Stephens, transportation director for the district and the man responsible for busing 20,000 students to their schools and back daily, said 20 members of his staff have been at it seven days a week, trying to work out the problems.

Faulty computer data bases, which among other things contained inaccurate information on student addresses, location of city streets, traffic and size of buses, have led to the stranding of thousands of students. School officials say the number of students with either late or no bus service is now down to about 1,500. They expect to eliminate the problem by mid-October.

The computers have been assigning smaller buses than are actually needed. For example, the new system is based on three students to a seat, which is impractical for high school students, who sit two to a seat. As a result, buses fill up faster than anticipated, leaving students such as Konishi, who are at the end of the route, without a seat.

The computers underestimated the time it takes for buses to reach their destination, thus making students late for school. Bus drivers now get more time to run their routes.

Safety has become an issue. In one case, an elementary school student was supposed to stand on a street median in order to get on the bus. In another case, students were unloaded into traffic on a one-way street. These problems have been rectified, according to school officials.

“Our highest priority right now is special education. We are identifying the routes they (the superintendent’s office) consider in need of most attention,” said Stephens.

In the case of the 3,000 special education students, Stephens said, the computer either failed to connect students with their schools or take into account changes in pick-ups made by parents over the summer.

“What happened is that a majority was left off the routes,” said Stephens. With a temporary return to manual routing, the number of special education students with faulty bus service now is about 500, he said.

In the voluntary integration program, in which the district buses 15,000 students, the main problems were too few stops to pick up students and the use of buses too small for high school students.

“It’s been pure insanity,” said bus driver Cathie Church while waiting at Patrick Henry High School Wednesday afternoon. “The computer said my bus could carry 65 students, but that’s only good for little kids. After I get 46 on the bus, it’s full. I’ve had to pass kids by who are waiting.

“The school people want me to take more, but I refuse to jeopardize the safety of everyone just so a computer can have its way.”

When school first opened, about 3,000 students in the integration program were without adequate bus service. The number is now down to 1,000, Stephens said.

Ecosystems of Cleveland, Ohio, provided the new computerized system. Included in the information school officials gave the company was a detailed map of San Diego.

“The streets of San Diego are totally illogical for a computer,” according to Stephens. “Some streets here change names as they change direction, others don’t. Some streets end at canyons, and, frankly, some of the maps we got from city planners were off.

“The computer tried to determine how long it would take to get from place to place. It’s terribly accurate to the nth degree,” explained Stephens. “On top of that, they (Ecosystem) put more students on a bus than we think they should, and they have the buses going faster than we thought they should.”

To further complicate matters, once the computer software developed by Ecosystems reached San Diego late in the summer, the computer used by the district in San Diego “was down a lot,” Stephens said.

Ecoystems officials have come to San Diego to help remedy the routing problems.

Once the new system is working properly, Stephens said, the district not only will be able to handle bus routes, but also will conduct complex simulations. For example, the district will have the ability to simulate changes in district boundaries.

It’s estimated, Stephens said, that in two years the district should recoup in efficiency savings, due to better bus routes, the $1-million cost of the computer system.