‘It was crushing’: Across Boston, late and no-show buses upend the lives of student athletes

East Boston High School football players waited well more than an hour one Friday afternoon in October for a Boston school bus to take them to their game, but it never arrived, causing them to miss their game.John Parziale

Suited up in blue and gold uniforms, the East Boston High School football team was all set on a recent Friday afternoon for a Boston school bus to take it to its game in Roxbury.

Instead, the student athletes spent more than an hour sitting or lying down in a hallway — some slumped against blue metal lockers with their eyes shut, others scrolling their phones — as they waited with increasing frustration for a bus that never arrived.

The no-show ultimately caused officials to call off the game with the O’Bryant School of Math and Science, sending dozens of deflated players home for a long holiday weekend in October. They became another casualty in Boston Public Schools’ long struggling effort to get its buses to show up and run on time, despite devoting $171 million to transportation this year and fielding a full roster of drivers.

“It was crushing,” said John Parziale, East Boston’s head football coach, noting that football players get only 11 games a season. “They work hard all week with the idea that they are going to play a game and win. … When I went home that day, I was like a lost soul.”

Across Boston, late and no-show buses repeatedly upend the lives of student athletes, who already are struggling to overcome obstacles to play sports at subpar high school facilities that often lack adequate gymnasiums and playing fields.

Games are getting postponed or starting late. Players and coaches frequently scramble to come up with makeshift transportation plans, calling ride-hailing services, lugging their equipment to public transit, or piling in coaches’ vehicles. The repeated disruptions for many coaches, athletes, and parents feel like a never-ending series of instant replays.

Athletes rely on the same buses that students take to and from school, which also have been running late for years and occasionally never show. The City Council plans to hold a hearing Nov. 7 on this year’s transportation problems, including on this first day of class when two-thirds of buses arrived late.

“It’s really unfair to the kids,” said Aimee Pelosi, whose son is East Boston’s starting varsity quarterback. “A lot of kids are missing out on opportunities to play and may not play after high school. ... They deserve to have these moments.”

In a statement, Chris McKinnon, a school district spokesperson, said BPS is unable to accommodate all transportation requests from athletic programs, especially when they overlap with regular afternoon bus runs. He said about 4 percent of athletics requests have gone unfilled this year, comparable with last year.

BPS is committed to improving its transportation operations and communications, including for athletes, McKinnon said, but emphasized there isn’t a shortage of drivers.

“Unfortunately, real-world logistical challenges can sometimes impact our ability to meet all scheduling requests for these trips,” he said. “While these instances can be frustrating, we appreciate the patience and understanding of our families and will continue working to ensure all students can access athletics and other afterschool activities.”

Superintendent Mary Skipper and Mayor Michelle Wu had hoped they would turn the corner this school year on late and no-show buses, with several improvements, including a new GPS tracking system that would increase the bus fleet’s efficiency. But so far the efforts have delivered more disappointment.

Afternoon buses have largely been running late more often this fall than last fall, with fewer than 85 percent of them arriving on time in recent weeks. Morning buses, after a sluggish September start, rebounded in October and are increasingly outperforming the same time period last fall, with 90 percent or more arriving on time.

The performance, however, remains below a state edict requiring 95 percent or more of buses to arrive at school on time each month — a benchmark developed under a district improvement plan two years ago to avoid state receivership.

While the state edict doesn’t apply to sports transportation, tardy buses during regular afterschool drop-offs could be creating a domino effect, leaving fewer buses available for athletes.

Rocco Zizza, head coach for football and softball at Boston Latin Academy, said a bus was supposed to pick up his football players at 4 p.m. last week for a game against English High School in Jamaica Plain. He confirmed the pickup earlier in the day and then 10 minutes after the scheduled arrival time he found out the bus wasn’t coming at all. He ended up driving some players in his truck; others took Ubers. That’s happened five times this fall.

“The saddest part as we were leaving was ... the cheerleaders didn’t have a bus either. They were still waiting,” Zizza said.

English High, which combines its team with the New Mission school, also has experienced problems. On Sept. 6, a tardy bus caused the football team to arrive about an hour late for its afternoon game with Somerville High School. The quarters of the game were reduced to eight minutes and the pregame warmups and halftime were shortened because the referees had to officiate another game.

Late buses also have disrupted other game days, said Ryan Conway, English High’s athletic director and football coach.

“The lack of communication and accountability is very frustrating to coaches, athletes, and parents,” he said.

The busing problems this fall are the latest to hit Boston athletes.In spring 2022, numerous games were delayed or postponed due to tardy and no-show buses, which BPS attributed to a shortage of drivers, resulting in no buses for 15 percent of athletics transportation requests.

This past April, City Councilors Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn demanded answers after a bus failed to arrive on time to pick up Excel High School baseball players in South Boston for a game in Roslindale, forcing them onto public transportation.

Derek Taft, who helps raise his nephew, an East Boston High sophomore on the varsity football team, questions whether BPS and the mayor are doing enough. He said the lack of buses has been a problem for his nephew since the seventh grade when he joined the junior varsity team.

“Unfortunately, our kids are paying the price,” he said.