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The city is eyeing a pilot program to place cameras on board, cameras on STOP arms, and GPS tracking systems, on yellow school buses. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hamel)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city is eyeing a pilot program to place cameras and GPS tracking systems on yellow school buses, and cameras on the vehicles' STOP arms.
Alexandra Robinson, executive director of the Department of Education's Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT), told members of the Community Education Council (CEC) Monday that the program is in the planning stages, and may possibly get underway before the end of the school year.
Specifics of the plan have yet to be worked out, but Robinson said she would keep members informed.
CEC President Michael Reilly said the pilot program would come as "welcome news" to Staten Island.
The on-board cameras could help improve student safety while riding the buses; the GPS tracking could help improve routes and student travel times, and the STOP arm cameras could be a deterrent to drivers who break the traffic law by failing to stop behind a parked school bus, he said.
CEC members also voted unanimously Monday on a resolution calling for the DOE to require every school bus in the city fleet to be equipped with a GPS tracking system. The resolution was drafted after a special-needs child was forced to endure four hours on his school bus with his frantic mother unable to find out where her child was.
There are 321 special education routes and 300 general education routes, for a total of 621 bus routes serving Staten Island schools. Of the 621 routes, only 245 have GPS tracking, Reilly said.
Assemblyman Matt Titone (D-North Shore), who sits on the Assembly Education Committee, said he also would seek to introduce legislation in the 2016 session to require GPS devices on every school bus in New York State, and would make the bill a priority.