Some situations that cause the bus to be late include traffic, road closures, weather, vehicle breakdowns or circumstances from the prior bus route. In some instances, the bus is held up at the school waiting for students. The same holds true when picking up students. If 20 students are one minute late for the pickup, the bus will run 20 minutes late. This is very profound considering some buses can pick up as many as 250 students during the course of the morning routes. Since we operate close to 80 buses on 360 routes, transporting some 3,900 students, it is virtually impossible to contact parents when a bus is late. However, the transportation department is in constant radio communication with all of the buses. Should a driver foresee they will be 10 minutes behind schedule, he/she is required to inform the base and, in turn, the base notifies the school. At the beginning of the year, please expect the buses to run several minutes late, for usually a week, as this is an exciting time for parents. It takes time to have pictures taken, to say and wave goodbye, and, in some cases, some of our new riders can be very reluctant to leave their parents and go off alone to a strange place.