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SPECIAL REPORT

Missing the bus

How Baltimore failed a generation of students struggling to get to school

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.

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Transit nightmare: Thousands of Baltimore kids can’t get to school on time
It’s not just late buses: Baltimore kids face serious safety risks

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

Baltimore students show lawmakers what it takes just to get to school
Noah Smallwood, a freshman at Baltimore School for the Arts, shows Baltimore City Councilman Paris Gray a couple features of the mobile Transit app during a ride on the Maryland Transit Administration CityLink Purple on Oct. 7, 2025.
Long bus rides limit students’ school choices, Hopkins study finds
Baltimore city buses pick up students outside Dunbar High School in June.
It’s not just late buses: Baltimore kids face serious safety risks
Baltimore city bus #54, the brown route, does a loop from downtown up to Hillendale and back again on June 4, 2025.
Baltimore kids can’t get to school on time. Here are 5 ways to fix that.
Brooke Bourne, center, a senior at Western High School, answers a question from the audience during Monday evening’s community discussion on the Baltimore student transportation crisis.
Get on board, Maryland, it’s time to fix Baltimore’s school transit mess
A’Nya Lucas, a senior at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, gets on the bus in Cherry Hill, Baltimore, MD on Nov. 14, 2024.
Want better school commutes in Baltimore? First, find out who’s riding the bus.
Passengers board a bus at the Mondawmin Transit Hub.
Baltimore City Council is ready to talk about kids’ struggles to get to school
Brooke Bourne, a senior at Western High School, spends more than 90 minutes getting home from school each day on public transit, a distance that takes 17 minutes by car.
Subscriber event replay: Reporters discuss Baltimore’s school transit nightmare
A’Nya Lucas, a senior at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, gets ready to transfer busses in downtown Baltimore, MD on Nov. 14, 2024. Lucas’ bus ride to school takes over an hour.
Which Baltimore school is best for you? Compare routes using this tool.
We tracked every MTA bus Baltimore students ride to school. Here’s how.
A’Nya Lucas, a senior at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, rides the bus across Baltimore, MD on Nov. 14, 2024. Lucas’ bus ride takes over an hour.

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.

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