Two weeks after the Boston School Department cited progress in getting buses to schools on time, more than 12 percent of the buses were still dropping students off late last week.
On Friday, about 12.5 percent of buses were late. At the 12 schools with the most late arrivals, 52 buses pulled up after the school bell rang, leaving students to scramble to get breakfast, late for class.
That is down from nearly 15 percent of buses that were late for school two weeks earlier, but it did not break the 90 percent on-time arrival mark that one administrator predicted would be met a week earlier.
Matthew Wilder, spokesman for the School Department, said that the buses are missing the bell by narrower margins. On Oct. 25, 25 percent of the buses were late, some by nearly an hour. On Friday, just over 6 percent of buses were late by 1 to 5 minutes, and 3.5 percent were late by 6 to 10 minutes, he said.
“The great news is, when we look at the buses and the number of trips, there’s not one bus that was late for every single trip. This is the first time that’s been the case,’’ said Kim Rice, the department’s assistant chief operating officer, who handles transportation. “We’re making the right adjustments. And we’re getting to the point where we can work on some of the nuances.’’
She also said the district is considering putting together a transportation advisory committee that would tap the expertise of private-sector companies for whom timing is essential, such as ambulances and delivery services like FedEx.
“What are those companies that do transportation and have such a tight window of on-time performance, how do they do that? What allows for them to guarantee?’’ Rice said.
The School Department has yet to fine the bus contractor, First Student Inc., because officials have been trying to work out how many of the delays could be attributed to driver problems, rather than a more complicated combination of events, Rice said. Administrators have been adjusting bus time frames as they try to understand traffic and get them to school on time, she said.
“We just didn’t feel it was a fair assessment,’’ said Rice, “because of the multiple changes that were going in place.’’
Administrators continued to alter bus routes last week in an attempt to fix the problem. They are putting together a report for the School Committee detailing the causes of the rampant bus problems since the start of school.
“It has definitely improved, but I think there are still some outliers,’’ said Kathy Burger, a Dorchester parent with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, an advocacy group of community activists from a variety of congregations that drew city councilors to stand at bus stops with parents to experience the delays.
Burger cited a bus that continues to arrive a half-hour late for school at Edward Everett Elementary, the Dorchester school that her child attends.
Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieebbert.