SPECIAL REPORT
Missing the bus
School buses for every Baltimore student seemed impossible — until now
School transportation company HopSkipDrive used AI and a Banner analysis to map how yellow buses, vans and cars could get Baltimore students to school safely and on time for less than 5% of the district’s budget.
About our data analysis
We mapped more than 4,000 student commutes and tracked the location of every MTA bus in real time for months to determine how long it really takes kids to get to school.More coverage
video explainers
More on our coverage of Baltimore’s school commute crisis
About this project
Reporters examined Baltimore’s failure to get students to school safely and on time with support from donors to The Banner’s Education Hub.
Reporting by Liz Bowie and Greg Morton. Additional reporting by Daniel Zawodny, Rick Hutzell, Maya Lora and Lee O. Sanderlin.
Photography by Kaitlin Newman, Ariel Zambelich, Jerry Jackson, Ulysses Muñoz, and Kirk McKoy.
Illustration by Alex Fine. Graphics by Greg Morton and Allan James Vestal. Photo editing by Ariel Zambelich.
Social engagement and video production by Krishna Sharma, Stokely Baksh and T.J. Ortenzi. Web production by Sarah Dunton.
Copy editing by Bryan Brandom, Leah Brennan and Michael Crist.
Editing by Rachel Cieri Mull, Richard Martin, Ryan Little, John O’Connor and Audrey Cooper.