Gothamist | “The number of students who began this school year without a bus is a crisis that should serve as a call to action to city and state leaders,” said Levine, of Advocates for Children of New York.

She said the situation highlights specific flaws in the city’s decades-old contracts with bus companies, including policies that let companies choose their routes.

“The students most likely to be without a bus at the end of the vendor pick are those with the most intensive needs, placed in schools farthest from where they live, the very students whose families tend to have the most difficulty getting them to school,” she said.