NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – School bus service will return for the first day of school with new COVID safety measures in place, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
"School bus service will be back and will be available to all children who need it," the mayor said at his briefing.
There will be 100,000 bus seats ready on the first day of school on Monday, Sept. 21, with 5,962 special education routes and 2,470 general education routes.
De Blasio said every route has been completed and confirmed and that all families will be notified about their students' routes by the end of the week.
The city is working with 60 bus companies "to have everything ready in time, including extensive safety measures," de Blasio said.
Among the safety measures are mandatory masks for every adult and child on buses, as well as social distancing, open windows and nightly cleaning.
Every bus company will also be provided with personal protective equipment, including 300,000 masks, 10,000 face shields and 30,000 bottles of hand sanitizer. Electrostatic sprayers will also be provided to every bus garage.
"We're going to keep those supplies up constantly as we go forward," de Blasio said.
Asked why there were apparently less school bus seats available this year than last year, the mayor said it's because not every student will be going to school every day due to blended learning.
"We've got not only kids who will be all remote, but because of blended learning we've got days where one child will be in school and then the next day a different child will be in school. So obviously you need a lot less in the way of bus service than you would if everyone was going at once," de Blasio said.
The mayor also announced a hyperlocal effort by the city's coronavirus Test and Trace Corps in the Soundview section of the Bronx.
The effort has included 9,700 door knocks, 49,000 calls to residents and 1,600 COVID tests.
Free rapid-point-of-care testing will be available through Sept. 15 at Clason's Point Library at 1215 Morrison Ave.
As the city continues to deal with a spike in shootings, de Blasio also praised the NYPD for making 160 gun arrests last week—the most in a single week in decades.
"The men and women of the NYPD should be proud of this achievement," the mayor said. "That is the most gun arrests in a single week in 25 years—a record for the last quarter century. That took a lot of hard work and a lot of bravery, and that is something that shows us how hard the men and women of the NYPD are working."
