AC Transit Bus Strands Junior High Students — Again

Call it the little bus that couldn't.

Just days after parents complained about no-shows on a special bus to bring students to and from Newark Junior High, that same bus failed to show up after school on Friday, one frustrated father said.

Victor De La Cruz, whose complaint to AC Transit officials was the basis of a Patch story on Wednesday, sent out another note Friday:

"Well that's a funny how do you do; to not only forget about our kids last Friday, but to do it again TODAY!? Seriously folks?!? There has GOT to be somebody getting ready to get fired here."

De La Cruz said he learned of today's no-show when his daughter phoned him at work. She will walk the two miles home.

De La Cruz, a retired Marine, doesn't object to the exercise but to the uncertainty. With a stickup at gunpoint happening nearby just last night, keeping on schedule with a bus to pick up students strikes him as a must.

"This is ridiculous," Newark Junior High principal Mark Neal wrote to De La Cruz Friday, explaining the steps his staff had taken to prevent a recurrence of the no-show bus. "Putting the students of Newark Jr. High at risk like this is completely unacceptable."

An AC Transit spokesman said the previous missed bus service owed to a misunderstanding over whether school was open. It isn't immediately known what accounts for Friday's failure.

This story will be updated if new information becomes available.

Some parents sounded off after our last article. Anything to add?