Marlborough Public Schools has stopped paying its school bus contractor after officials say the company fell short of expectations close to 300 times since the start of the academic year, including an incident in which an elementary-aged student was released at the wrong stop. The vendor, North Reading Transportation, sent a senior executive before the School Committee on Oct. 27 to apologize and lay out a recovery plan, but board members made clear that promises alone will not restore the district's trust.
The scope of the problems was detailed by Mohammed Siddiqui, the district's finance and operations director, according to the Community Advocate. Siddiqui said NRT missed bus stops, was routinely late to pickups, had inadequate communication with families and schools, and was involved in several safety mishaps. He said that since the district stopped payment, the district has seen fewer problems but still faces modest delays and issues.
A separate report from Citizen Portal puts a number on the escalation, saying disruptions increased from about 170, reported previously, to roughly 300 incidents. Those failures ranged from substitute-driver usage and missed pickups to mechanical delays and student-safety incidents, the outlet reported. Among the most alarming: the district filed another 51A report with the Department of Children and Families after a kindergarten student was released at a bus stop without a parent present, though the child arrived home safely.
Schools Suspend Payments and Demand a Fix
In response, Marlborough Public Schools suspended payments to NRT and is coordinating with city legal counsel on contract remedies, per Citizen Portal's reporting, with the district requiring the company to demonstrate immediate, sustained improvement. That move followed an earlier, unanimous vote by the Marlborough Public School Committee to withhold payment from the contractor after repeated transportation failures, with the committee directing staff and counsel to send formal notice demanding measurable fixes.
School Committee member Katherine Hennessy said the committee and NRT had held two meetings over the prior two weeks that included frank discussions, and she said the group deserved to hear the company's plans to address its errors and issues. At one point, she said bluntly that the partnership was not working at the time. Siddiqui, for his part, said the team had made progress over the prior week and that he wanted that progress sustained while outstanding concerns were addressed.
NRT's Apology and Promised Changes
Appearing before the committee on Oct. 27, NRT senior vice president Scott Sheridan apologized to the committee, the district, schools, parents and the broader Marlborough community for the service disruptions. He acknowledged that the service provided had not consistently met expectations or the company's own operational standards.
Sheridan outlined a set of planned changes, saying NRT intends to increase the number of full-time drivers assigned to Marlborough, hire more substitute drivers, and improve communication. He also said the company has increased signing bonuses to attract workers amid stiff competition for qualified drivers. Sheridan told the committee he would return before the board shortly to report on progress, but he also conceded that the committee should not simply take the company's word that service will improve — NRT, he said, must demonstrate it through action.
Mayor Says Failures Hurt Student Attendance
Marlborough Mayor J. Christian Dumais weighed in as well, saying the poor service reflected badly on the city, the schools, and the people who had trusted NRT following a competitive rebid process. Dumais added that the disruptions had harmed students' school attendance, raising the stakes beyond scheduling headaches to classroom time lost.
The dispute arrives after months of transportation turmoil in Marlborough. Roughly 45 school bus drivers and monitors employed by NRT Bus went on strike in late May, according to GBH, with Teamsters Local 170 identifying affordable healthcare as one of the main sticking points in the stalled negotiations. Citizen Portal separately reported that Marlborough leaders flagged several driver callouts and late runs in the first days of this school year, prompting the superintendent to ask NRT for detailed run and driver lists to determine whether staffing or routing was behind the late buses.
A Statewide Driver Shortage Looms Over the Fight
The district's struggles echo a wider staffing crunch across Massachusetts. The School Transportation Association of Massachusetts has described recruiting bus drivers as an uphill battle since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CBS News, which reported that NRT said it had raised wages to hire more bus and van drivers despite the ongoing national shortage. A 2023 report from the Boston Globe found Massachusetts districts varied widely in whether they had enough drivers to cover every route, with Marlborough itself entering that school year with only 39 drivers for 43 routes, forcing some to double up on assignments. The district had already raised pay by $8, to $34 an hour, in hopes of closing that gap.
Transportation strain isn't unique to Marlborough. In Boston, city officials recently reported that just 86% of buses arrived on time during the first month of the school year, according to Boston 25 News, falling short of the district's 95% goal and marking a two-point drop from the prior year. For Marlborough families, though, the immediate question remains whether NRT's latest promises translate into buses that show up — and students who get home safely.
