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Transportation Turmoil : Ebr's Returning Transportation Nightmare

Vivienne Leachman

Aug 18, 2025

As students return to East Baton Rouge Parish, one thing that has consistently persisted to shroud the first days of school in darkness is the district's often insufficient transportation system.

As students return to East Baton Rouge Parish, one thing that has consistently persisted to shroud the first days of school in darkness is the district's often insufficient transportation system.  Some of the many challenges that officials have to grapple with around the district are route delays, mechanical failures, safety incidents, and systematic inconsistency that negatively affect students' classroom experience. 


 Once schools reopened in the fall of 2023, EBRPSS acknowledged how many bus routes were delayed and pick up points had been changed -- which created confusion. Then Superintendent Sito Narcisse urged parents to just be patient. However, later that year, Kevin Ridgely the head of transportation and EBRPSS  resigned after just 7 months on the job, highlighting frustrations with unresolved systematic transportation issues. In late 2024, the district was still experiencing troubles, and transportation started using external assistants to mitigate the shortage of drivers.  These drivers, referred to as Trail relief drivers, were temporarily covering regular routes. However, many relief drivers drove the same routes for months. In May 2025, the district hired Prismatic Services, a national firm to help eliminate inefficient transfer locations and help aid in later School times. 


 In July, EBRPSS introduced the transportation opt out program which allowed families who had other means of transportation to opt out of bus service, which reduced congestion on the roads and shortened route times. Ahead of the 2025 - 2026 school year EBRPSS implemented two key changes -- Aid in transportation by reaffirming the enforcement of state law that students living within a mile of the school must self transport, and replacing door-to-door service with Community pickup points to improve efficiency. 


Yet for students like Rainee Buster and Tamari Stephens who are 11th graders at Liberty Magnet High School, expressed how challenges haven't disappeared. Rainee said the transformation of her route to a transfer route added nearly 90 minutes to her trip home. “ If they had a more organized system and paid their bus drivers better --there wouldn't be so many kids without a bus and had actually got home at a decent hour safely”, Rainee said. Tamari also expressed how she believed the reoccurring transportation issues would affect her education. Stating how ” Missing class time slows down my learning and makes it harder for me to catch up over time this could lead to serious problems.” Tamari said. These are just some of the negative testimonies from students who are tired of the systematic transportation issues in their District.


Whilst EBRPSS Transportation overhaul marks one of his largest systematic reforms to the transportation department in years, the challenges in the district are far from over. The success of new routes, upgraded buses and increased safety measures will truly be measured, not in arrival times but whether students like tomorrow and rainy days can depend on safe consistent rides every day.  Reliable transportation isn't a luxury, it's a difference between falling behind and having a fair shot at success. 

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