Relates to unoccupied school bus seats in New York city and requires the NYC department of education to develop a system to fill such unoccupied seats with otherwise ineligible students for school bus service.

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S5897-2011 Actions

• Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO CITIES
• Dec 23, 2011: PRINT NUMBER 5897A
• Dec 23, 2011: AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO RULES
• Sep 28, 2011: REFERRED TO RULES

S5897-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S5897

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to
school bus service

PURPOSE:
To make unoccupied seats on school buses available, through a
selection system, to students deemed ineligible.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision a of
section 19-606 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as
added by local law number 48 of the city of New York for the year
2000, to add a new subdivision f-1:
Provides students a seat on school bus that have unoccupied seats
through a selection system.
Section two of the bill is the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
The New York City Department of Education normally
provides school bus service to students only through sixth grade, but
has the power to grant a variance to seventh and eighth-graders. Over
the past 18 years, variances have been granted to 70 schools where
the options with respect to public transportation are limited. The
city Department of Education eliminated school bus service to
students in seventh and eighth-grade. This policy affected 4,600
students at public, private and Catholic schools city-wide. Of those
students, 2,940 live on Staten Island where mass transit options are
limited.

With the start of the 2010 school year, parents and children were
subjected to chaos. In many cases, the children who attempted to take
public transportation waited at bus stops only to have these buses
pass them by because they were full to capacity with morning
commuters going to work. This has continued through the 2011 school
year.
Furthermore, parents who now drive their children to school face
incredible traffic jams and long delays surrounding the school due to
the tremendous increase in vehicles going to the schools. More
importantly, children who walk are scared of the traffic. The lack of
sidewalks and speeding vehicles increases their anxiety and makes
their route extremely treacherous. School buses passing the children
are reported to have many empty seats and that is why this
legislation is being proposed.

This bill would provide that the principal of each school determines
how many school buses have unoccupied seats. Once the determination
is made a selection system will be used to select students who were
deemed ineligible to have a seat on that bus. The selection system
shall be implemented by the New York City Department of Education.
The bill also provides that no additional drop off or pick up stops
will be made.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:


New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

S5897-2011 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    5897

                         2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                             September 28, 2011
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen.  LANZA  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

  AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
    relation to school bus service

    THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section 1. Subdivision a of section 19-606 of the administrative  code
  of  the city of New York, as added by local law number 48 of the city of
  New York for the year 2000, is amended and  a  new  subdivision  f-1  is
  added to read as follows:

    a.  Except  as  provided in subdivisions d, e [and], f AND F-1 of this
  section, no student shall be allowed to board a school bus  operated  by
  or  pursuant  to a contract with the board of education unless a seat is
  available for the student.
    F-1. UPON COMPLETION OF THE SCHOOL BUS SERVICE PLANS PREPARED PURSUANT
  TO SUBDIVISION A OF THIS  SECTION,  THE  PRINCIPAL  OF  EACH  INDIVIDUAL
  SCHOOL  SHALL  CANVASS  ALL  BUSES  FOR UNOCCUPIED SEATS. ANY UNOCCUPIED
  SEATS SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE STUDENTS DETERMINED INELIGIBLE  FOR
  SCHOOL  BUS  SERVICE.    THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SHALL
  IMPLEMENT A SELECTION  SYSTEM  BY  REGULATION  AND  NO  ADDITIONAL  DROP
  OFF/PICK UP STOPS SHALL BE MADE.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.




   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD13446-01-1