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Earlier this school year, Newark Board of Education co-vice president Allison James-Frison said she saw crowded New Jersey Transit buses passing Newark students waiting at bus stops long after they were supposed to be in class.
Her own daughter was tardy three times in September because the buses were full and drove past her in the morning, she recently told the school board.
James-Frison is not alone. Maggie Freeman, another Newark parent, said she drove her son and his friends to school one morning because NJ Transit buses were late and full.
Newark Public Schools partners with NJ Transit to provide single-use bus tickets and monthly passes to more than 14,000 of Newark’s nearly 40,000 students, according to statistics from the 2022-23 school year. Students are eligible for bus tickets based on a number of factors, such as distance from school and a student’s needs.
In recent months, NJ Transit has been criticized by riders over delays to their bus and train services. But some parents wonder if traffic and transit challenges have been exacerbated this year by a new universal schedule that requires all of the district’s students to be at school by 8:15 a.m.