Office of Pupil Transportation - The New York City Department of Education

Our mission at the Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) is to ensure that all eligible New York City students receive safe, clean and timely transportation to and from school.

We are happy to announce that school bus service will resume to normal on Thursday, May 8.

Parents who transported their children to school will be reimbursed for that cost by the Office of Pupil Transportation.

If you would like to receive two 2-trip Metro Cards (a total of four trips) please call our office at 718-392-8855 and give your child�s ID number. We will send you the MetroCards.

If you would like to be reimbursed for taxi or other costs please send us original receipts from your travel (keep a copy for your records) and a brief description of the travel you took. Please also, of course, send us the name of the student, his or her student ID, and the name of the person to whom a check should be made payable. Checks will be sent to the student�s address of record.

Receipts should be sent to:
May Bus Service Interruption
Office of Pupil Transportation
44-36 Vernon Blvd - Sixth Floor
Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101

We are sorry for the disruption that this service interruption has caused.

Schools have received new Student MetroCards which are active from February 11 through June 26. The number of MetroCards sent to schools was based solely on the number of students documented in ATS/NPSIS as of December 21, 2007.

If your school has received an incorrect number of MetroCards, the school�s principal should contact Awilda Rentas at ARentas@schools.nyc.gov or via fax at (718) 472-5746.

ATS/NPSIS Transportation Training

The Office of Pupil Transportation is offering transportation workshops for school staff. Sessions will be held Thursdays at OPT Headquarters: 44-36 Vernon Blvd. (6th Floor room 604) Long Island City, NY 11101. Sessions will start promptly at 9 a.m., will include lunch, and will end at 2 p.m. Class size will be limited to twenty people for each session.

Most sessions will focus on ATS – schools using NPSIS to manage transportation issues should select the workshop date where NPSIS will be covered.

Sessions will focus on effectively managing the tasks and deadlines regarding student transportation issues for both general education and special education students. Each group will review ATS or NPSIS procedures, field trip requests, and procedures to request, add, or delete bus stops. NPSIS sessions will also review how to use the Non-public School Calendar application. A question and answer session will review specific issues from the group at the end of the day.

Staff interested in attending should review the schedule of dates, receive approval to attend from their principal, and email Ejacobs2@schools.nyc.gov to request a specific session date. Confirmed attendees will receive notification to attend through Outlook.

View ATS/NPSIS Training Schedule

Pollution Reduction

OPT is committed to improving the quality of air and life for all residents of NYC, particularly school-aged children. 100% of the diesel-powered general education buses (2,306 vehicles) under contract to OPT are equipped with emission reduction technology.

In September 2007, legislation was enacted to reduce air pollution from idling school buses. The bill requires the Commissioner of Education to issue regulations requiring school districts to minimize the idling of school buses while parked on school grounds or in front of schools. Click here to read more.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus USA program has partnered with Scholastic Books to write, illustrate, and publish “The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up” to increase awareness of the importance of reducing diesel emissions. The special-edition book is intended for children from kindergarten through fourth grade and is available free to individuals, schools and libraries. Visit Clean School Bus USA to order copies of the book and for more information about the program.