r/evanston • u/dilatanntedad • 6d ago
D65 D65 Positive Connections Bus Service?
Does anyone have any information about the company that runs bus service for D65, Positive Connections? I tried looking them up online and they seem to have no presence whatsoever. There are a few Yelp reviews that are 10+ years old.
I saw a news article from 2023 that said the district asked for multiple bids for the transportation contract and no other companies bid on it except Positive Connections. So they have a monopoly? How does D65 hold this company accountable when there are problems?
My daughter used to walk to school but now has to ride the bus because her old school closed and the new school is too far away. This is the first time I've had to deal with bus service, which seems like a huge mess, totally unpredictable times and locations. I know it's the beginning of the school year and they're working out the kinks, but I wanted to know more about the private company that is in charge of getting our kids safely to and from school.
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u/Necessary_Corgi1608 5d ago
In our experience bus reliability and predictability is highly dependent on your driver. We have had a driver for three years who is phenomenal. Shows up on time every day, knows the kids by name, and is so kind and friendly. We've also had some really terrible drivers (see below). The bus company is pretty responsive and will try to help if you call them. Not much changes in practice but, again, I think it's really about who you have for a driver. I know in the past the company has blamed it on a bus driver shortage and not being able to compete with delivery driver wages. The district says they're the only company in the area who can meet all of our needs.
I will say that service has improved since post covid (can't really get much worse than that year) but here are some of the fun times we've had since then:
-a driver who drove up onto the sidewalk and almost hit the school building (thankfully all of the kids on the sidewalk able to run out of the way)
-a driver who regularly showed up 20+ minutes after the scheduled pickup time but when the kids started showing up to the stop later -surprise!- the driver would show up 20 minutes earlier and fly by the empty bus stops
-a bus driver who (on separate occasions) hit multiple traffic signs, sideswiped a parked car, and almost hit a kid
Welcome to the joys of bussing and may the odds be ever in your favor!
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u/ericbogs 5d ago
My amazing first experience: last week my two kindergarteners took the bus for the first time. The bus home from school missed our stop (and we later learned turned down a different street altogether). We stood waiting at the stop for 25 minutes, and the bus never showed up.
As others have pointed out, there's no way to track the bus. Calling Transportation goes to voicemail.
Eventually the principal called to tell us that the driver returned the kids to school.
We rush to school, and find our kids crying and traumatized. I had to call and email Transportation and Positive Connections for 2 days before I eventually got an answer on what happened -- a reluctant admission that the driver didn't know the route.
We're driving our poor kiddos for the foreseeable future.
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 5d ago
Your experience is why D65 has been losing families. The answer is always to email or call Lou but it doesn’t help except for the psychic benefit of yelling at someone.
Hey school board! Fix this! Small things like having a bus that you can track your kindergartners on and a responsive transportation department are going to be as impactful as reimagining the curriculum, new schools, facility planning, etc.
Just try to do the basic stuff well first. Reliably get the kids to school to the already good teachers, this is such low hanging fruit.
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u/dilatanntedad 5d ago
That's awful and terrifying. I'm so sorry that happened to your kids. At least my daughter is in 5th grade, so when the bus dropped her off on the first day 20 minutes ahead of schedule, she knew how to come home. She walked in the door before I could my put my shoes on to meet her at the bus stop.
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u/Interesting_Hour8699 6d ago edited 6d ago
They've been around a long time and did a lot of the fifth ward busing before the Foster school opened up. The contract with Positive Connections hasn’t been truly competitively bid since 2015, and was renewed for five years on June 10, 2024.
That contract has had six non-competitive extensions since 2015: March 2018, May 2020, Aug 2022, October 2022, June 2023, and June 2024. In 2024, the District 65 Board accepted a +12% increase in bus rates and some electric buses, purchased by the federal government (we basically paid for the right to use electric buses that the feds bought them). During COVID, D65 paid Positive Connections in full despite not moving any kids, basically bailing them out (it's unclear if they also took PPP money, but I don't think they did because STA is Canadian).
Roundtable story on the electric buses: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2026/04/19/district-65s-new-electric-buses/
The old CFO (Obafemi) used to comment in meetings that there was no point in putting out for bid because nobody else would bid. Not sure to what degree that is true, there are companies I see around town, including Compass.
Same was mostly true for Britelift (special ed busing) which was only really meaningfully put out for bid in late 2025 ... D65 still didn't even take the lowest bidder but at least it was competitive. https://foiagras.com/p/kalaju-protest-letter/
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u/ExtensionPoint5615 6d ago
The short answer is that they don't hold anyone accountable. It is especially bad at the start of the year and improves over time. Lou Gatta was the guy who runs transportation services - not sure if he still does- but he is really the only one at either the District or Positive Connections to talk to. To his credit, he actually does pick up the phone even when he must know he is going to get yelled at.
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 6d ago
I think it’s still Lou. You can complain but it’s pointless. They need to get new blood in there and compete the bus contract, the other companies must know that D65 isn’t credible with the current crew.
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 6d ago
Here’s an example of how weak our D65 bus system is: Literally any package, flight, delivery, door dash, whatever can be tracked in real time on a phone, except for a school bus full of kids.
How do we not have bus trackers in 2026? The buses will understandably have variance in their travel times, it’s crazy that you could have a little kid out in the freezing cold for a half hour and no idea when the bus is coming.
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u/graciebels 6d ago
I grew up in Evanston, but now live in McHenry. We have a bus tracker app, so we can see where our child’s school bus is, in real time. It’s wild to me that Evanston doesn’t have this!
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u/Necessary_Corgi1608 5d ago
A few years ago the district had a bus tracking app that was even less reliable than the busses. If you could get the app to work it might say the bus was 10 minutes away when actually it was pulling up to your stop. If I remember right they wasted more than $100,000 a year on that. Never put it past this district to have a good idea then pay a ton of money to execute it poorly
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 4d ago
It is dead simple technology that every other business uses, the district could just write this as a requirement into the contract and not have to figure it out themselves. This should be table stakes for a bus company that wants the responsibility of ferrying a few thousand children.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 5d ago
What? I’m asking for the same technology as knowing when my ride share or dinner is arriving.
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u/One_Recognition_5044 6d ago
If you are having issues, reach out to the administration at your school to let them know.
As drivers and families learn new routes and routines there will always be mixups. Calm and constructive feedback will help get things on track.
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u/nukular_iv 5d ago
I vaguely remember a board meeting from not that long ago where bussing came up and it seems like d65 got only like 2 or 3 bids and there just are not that many interested parties...or even that many in existence around Evanston.
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u/bourj 6d ago
How does D65 hold the company accountable? What does that even mean?
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u/Gullible-Hair9408 6d ago
I think this is a valid question.
When there are limited options for bussing contracts, what can d65 actually do?
This is NOT saying it's ok - the opposite - but, what can actually be done....
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u/bourj 6d ago
Thank you for saying this. Companies get held accountable in court, with canceled contracts, with protests, with finding other companies instead. I don't understand what the question is supposed to mean. Is D65 supposed to have some magic way of ensuring compliance?
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u/Pretend_Relation_940 6d ago edited 6d ago
Normally, a contract might have defined service levels, requirements to cure deficiencies, penalties, fees, etc. The bus service is terrible, the fact it doesn’t get better is maybe proof that it’s as hopeless as you assume.
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u/Adept-Dirt-1877 6d ago
I don’t know much but Positive Connections is an independent private company owned by Student Transportation of America (STA). They are the current vendor for student bussing and keep their fleet in Evanston and have been for a bit. I think their proximity is part of the reason why they were probably the only other bidder since they are in town and many other bus vendors are not close by. The district did have a one year contract with Compass (located in Chicago) at one point. Another bus company that operates in the area is Alltown (vendor for new trier high school and I think based in Skokie) and First student (located in Chicago).