To the editor:

Today was the first of day of school, and the bus transportation was far from smooth or reliable. Our son's bus was a half hour late this morning, one of several delayed buses, and we were stunned to learn that an elementary school bus ended up in Warren this afternoon because of a lost driver.

Clearly the school district and the bus company have a lot of work ahead if they're going to regain trust in the community, especially when it comes to training and retaining qualified drivers. One additional step in the right direction would be to put GPS devices on the buses and have this route tracking information available on an app in real time.

Right now, people uncertain as to whether they can count on their school bus to arrive on time will simply drive or bike to school. This leaves us stuck in the same rut you lamented in your recent editorial, with far too many cars circling around the schools each day causing congestion and safety hazards. Having a route tracking app might encourage more families to use the buses once they can see that the pickup and drop-off times are reliable and consistent.

This morning I called the school district office and talked to their point person for transportation, and she said this was the first time she had heard the idea of an app and that she would pass it along. So now is the time for all of us who support this to contact the school administration and make our voices heard. Ideally more children would ride the bus to school, and for this to happen, the bus service needs to be more convenient and dependable.

Sincerely,

Hans Schattle

Barrington