BJ’s buses, a company the school has been employing for over three years, aides in the transport of students from various competitions, games, and events. In recent years, their sup-par driving skills, late pickup and arrival times, sketchy business dealings, occasional failures to show up and numerous mistakes have the student body riled up.

BJ’s is employed by many high schools in the Chicagoland area, particularly CPS. Their job is to to pick up, drop off and return; it seems like it should be a simple task. While it is noted that traffic can affect a bus’s travel time, BJ’s has been known for extra late arrivals.

WY baseball player Benjie Barclay ‘15, recollects two events with BJ’s that happened during the 2014 baseball season. He says, “Once the bus never showed to pick us up so we had to forfeit a whole match, and on another occasion, our driver got honked at over seven times for cutting people off.”

The varsity girls volleyball team also had their run-ins with the company when the bus never arrived to pick them up for a game at St. Ignatius, so they had to carpool themselves. A member of the team, Cecilia Bedolla ‘17, gives her opinions about the company, “I feel like they have no consideration what-so-ever for where we have to be and when we have to be there.”

Other teams have experienced difficulties with the company as well. Members of the Model United Nations waited outside for over an hour for their bus to pick them up from a conference at a northern college. It was also reported that on a few occasions, BJ’s has double-booked buses in order to make more money.

It’s easy to get mad at the bus driver, when in all reality, it’s the company’s fault. Setbacks like these can really throw off someones whole week by affecting both their homework and sleep schedule.

“It’s frustrating when they pull stunts like this, because it messes with my routine, and sometimes I don’t get home until 8:30/9 at night,” says Ann Ernst ’16.

Although administration and coaches are able to call the company and complain, the problem is reoccurring, and there needs to be ways to prevent it. Whether that means finding a new company or having a backup plan so that no one is left stranded.