Durham School Services 1 Industry Drive, Waterford, NY 12188

"You. Want a great place to work come join our team or bus drivers and monitor. We are a great big family and welcome all new members."

"Rude people. Always mad. Gives hassle when need time off for family issues like kids"

"Today I saw my kindergarten and first grade grandsons get off the bus at Mockingbird Ct, the driver instead of driving around the loop took the left on to Mockingbird. Your bus driver let these 2 little boys off at the opposite side of the street AND let them cross behind the bus. Are not drivers trained?"

"I've interacted with Durham Bus Company, formerly Folmsbee Bus Company, for about 8 years. It's been an adventure, and will likely continue to be. They're the only bus option for the area, and so it doesn't matter too much how they're rated. And my kids are going to be in school for many years to come, so I'm going to need to keep working with them. This review's a ride, so buckle in and take it to the end. The people who work the dispatch and the phones hustle and do their best to talk with you, and to tell you what the status of a bus is, or how they can work with you on a pick up or drop off time. But. But they can take infuriatingly long to provide schedules-- forms are due from parents in April, and sometimes route information doesn't show up until the day before school starts in August/September. The first two weeks of the schedule are a tissue of lies as the timing gets worked out. Additionally, your driver assignment is going to be a crapshoot. Generally, I've had great experiences with the drivers, but it's not uncommon for a driver to just quit or be reassigned in the middle of a term without any warning. You might not think that's a big deal at first, but kids like their routines, and a change in drivers means a change in how your kid's whole day begins in the first space that might not have much of a support structure. That can change the whole tenor of the day for them. I have had great years, and I've had years where we changed drivers 5 times. That's someone new driving your kid to school every 2-3 months. The last two years have been pretty steady, so we might be seeing a change in their hiring practices. But that's about the only indication you'll get that there might be some kind of change. Durham does not do any sort of engagement or outreach to the parents, they do not have a community face, other than that sweet-natured woman who bears the brunt of angry phone calls. So. So that's what it is. If it seems haphazard and crazy, and suboptimal, that's because it is, but it's also the only game in town, and it means well, and it tries kind of hard and it's got some very nice people who genuinely want your kids to school and back home safe, but there are a million moving parts, and they *are* trying to make a profit, so sometimes things are impacted. Yes, that's a ridiculous run-on sentence, but it also totally epitomizes Durham. They're a three-star outfit with some five-star people who mostly turn in four-star days, and seem to honestly do their best to make those the majority, except when it goes south, and you get some two-star weeks, or a one-star ride. And so it washes out to be a three-star review, probably 3-and-a-half, if they'd let me, because service is better more days than it's rough. However, at the end of the day, they're still the only game in town on the west side of the river, and so your best bet is know that it might be suboptimal at times, but they mean well, and they're trying. If you can be at peace with that, great. If not, then you're either driving your own kid a lot, calling uber, or making them hustle their own butt to school. Regardless, those buses are going to keep on rolling."

"The boss is hot and I'd hit it . Besides that the staff is great"