Cobb County School District Transportation Department - Marietta, Georgia

Sharon B.

Just know that they are getting their friends and family give these fake reviews about how good they are. Because I know for sure this really should be a one-star rating across the board. 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

Extremely Disappointed with Cobb County Transportation Services

I don’t even know where to begin. The level of customer service I’ve experienced from Cobb County Transportation has been absolutely unacceptable—especially when dealing with children, and more specifically, special needs children.

One of the most frustrating and hurtful encounters I had was with a woman who answered the phone and was, quite honestly, one of the rudest individuals I’ve ever spoken to. After being placed on hold for over 30 minutes due to a reported bus accident, I calmly asked for information about what happened. Instead of being met with concern or professionalism, I was treated with extreme rudeness. She “placed” me on hold again, but I could still hear her and others in the background mocking and speaking badly about me—before abruptly hanging up. When I called back, I was hung up on again. It took multiple attempts for someone to speak to me respectfully, and by that point, I was forced to be extremely firm just to be heard.

The worst part? My child had been in a bus accident—and not only was I not contacted, but I was also treated as if my concern was an overreaction. An hour delay with no explanation, no courtesy call, and zero empathy. It’s infuriating and deeply hurtful.

This isn't an isolated incident. My child’s current bus driver has been involved in at least three or four incidents this semester alone, and each time it’s brushed off as “not a big deal.” But it is a big deal. These are our children, and their safety should never be compromised.

Adding to my frustration is the issue with my child’s safety harness. My son is special needs and relies on that harness for secure transport. I had to request a replacement four times. The bus driver refused to address it. When I called for help, I was met with more resistance. A supervisor named Sharon insisted the harness didn’t need to be replaced. When I asked to speak to someone above her, she said there was no one. Only after I threatened to escalate the situation publicly did she suddenly “find” a new harness. Why should any parent have to beg or threaten to get basic safety measures enforced?

I have filed multiple complaints—at least five—and not once have I received a follow-up call. Not once has anyone taken it seriously. The follow-through is non-existent. They pretend to listen, but they do absolutely nothing.

To be clear: this isn’t just poor customer service. It’s dangerous. It’s dismissive. It’s deeply disheartening.

Cobb County Transportation is failing its most vulnerable riders, and I no longer have confidence in their ability to keep children safe. If they cannot handle the responsibility of transporting special needs students—or any students—with care, professionalism, and urgency, then they should not be in this line of work.

This has been one of the most frustrating and heartbreaking experiences I’ve ever had as a parent.

– A concerned and deeply disappointed parent

Love

Don’t waste your time complaining if you’re a parent. The directors, phone operators, mangers are worthless. They’ll promise to call you back and won’t. Called for several weeks because there was not a bus in my area to pick up in the am for Highschool. Didn’t make any sense considering a bus runs for middle school. I spoke with District 5’s manger and the director. They never called me back. My daughter walks about 5-10 mins to a bustop and guess what The bus driver doesn’t pick the kids up until around 8am or some days 830am. School starts at 815 and the bell rings at 820. By the time my daughter gets to school, she’s missed most of 1st period. I’ve been calling her Lyfts, which are expensive. Just so that she can get to school on time. Sometimes they may have her late, but not as late as the bus. Today she got there at 818 and was given a late pass. I called the school to complain and they gave me an email to complain to. Cobb county’s school district is a joke! Or at least when it comes to Campbell High school, with a high black student population. They don’t care!

jennifer L.

they could care less about parents complaining and being concerned about the kids safety. they don’t even bother taking the time to look into the situation they just say they’ll call you back and never do.

Courtney L.

A lot of these drivers are just reckless. This morning a bus (2110) pulled to the side just sitting there. Another bus was behind it and went around. As I proceeded to do the same..the bus cuts me off!!! Then he acts as if he did nothing wrong.

Kelly B.

If you take away all of the 5 star ratings that the EMPLOYEES submitted, then you would get the real truth! The lack of customer service and compassion that the employees have for the students and families that they service is astounding! I put in a request to have a bus stop change for my daughter, the only student dropped off at that stop, to stop 50 feet closer on the same street and within less than 30 minutes of the request being put in it was denied. The bus driver wouldn’t need to change the route and it wouldn’t impact any other students. I requested this months ago and put in countless calls to the transportation office and was obviously ignored by everyone based on the lack of time, consideration and effort put in! This place is run by power hungry disgruntled people that don’t take the students and the families needs into consideration at all! Such a shame that our tax monies are going towards these people and that our children have to suffer because of the poor attitudes that are placed in charge!

Sherri T.

I do not allow my son to ride the bus. He is special needs and I am glad I made this decision once I observed the bus drivers this year. The woman who drives bus 6281 that talks to the special needs kids in a way that I feel is rude and unprofessional. I observe everyday when I go and pick up my son from Clay Harmony. She mentioned to one kid" don't put your greasy hair on my bus window." I wondered in my head if she would have said this in front of the kids parents because 1: that's not your window, the window and the bus belong to Cobb County and 2: have some empathy when dealing with children with special needs and if he does, just clean the window and quit running your mouth. She is the type of person that made me glad that I did not allow my Autistic son to ride the bus this year. I get the fact they there is a driver shortage but that doesn't mean to just hire anybody. It is hard for us parents to trust people around our children which is why so many of us drive our kids to school. But don't just hire anyone who applies. Think about the children.

Brittany W.

This review is for Terrie Hastings for her rude behavior on the phone and the bus driver (still don’t know his name) older white man who didn’t speak and slammed the doors and zoomed off with my 2 kids and another child. I called my son right away as the school doesn’t open until 7:15. After 5 calls he answered(he has his phone on silent due to rules) and he said the driver yelled at them to shut up and told them they were acting like a bunch of wild Indians and missed 5 bus stops!! First off that’s unacceptable to say to kids regardless of how you feel (they’re kids so address them as such) and they were all brown skin and he’s an older white man. I was told to contact Vanessa (supervisor big shanty elementary school) and left 3 voicemails and I’ve yet to speak with her about my safety concerns and the racism remarks made. They act like the director is in the secret service as no one would give my Bryan’s contact info!! Terrie reached out (still no Vanessa and I left her voicemails to specifically call me be) was rude and hung up on me because she got caught up in her lies(I have 2 witnesses who heard our entire convo). I was told by Terrie during her rude interaction that the phones are recorded as well as the buses and I would like to hear BOTH recordings because Terrie Hastings is the worst and needs to be held accountable for her actions or lack there of and needs to go to her calming corner and see how that works for her! She claimed she spoke with the driver and her statement after me asking why he made that comment was “he’s from the age of cowboys and Indians! My thing is if it was a 30 yr old driver saying that then what would be your excuse then?! It’s sad that these people don’t care about kids and more so with keeping drivers due to shortages. Terrie told me if I don’t like the driver I could drive my kids to school. That’s a great solution to the racism smh. I asked what was going to be done about the situation and she said she couldn’t discuss. If my son talked too loud, sneezes too loud l, ask to go to the restroom, tell a kid to stop poking him with pencils they’re calling, emailing, and making them do reflections in corners !! It’s non stop so who makes the workers, teachers, supervisors, directors, bus drivers etc…. do reflections on their behavior?! Who holds them accountable. The system is so one sided and needs to be reevaluated immediately!! To disrespect a parent for speaking on their safety concerns about their kids is unacceptable and appalling!! There was no solution and I still need the DIRECTOR OF THE COBB COUNTY SCHOOL BUS TRANSPORTATION to contact me asap! They have my info so that shouldn’t be an excuse to not contact me. They ought to be ashamed!!! I’m only giving one star for the sweet lady that was working the switch boards that morning and the nice lady at big shanty who deals with things related to the buses and drivers. Y’all doing code reds at school but I’m supposed to be calm about a racist driver zooming off with my kids and calling them out their name is pure foolery. If it was your child what would you do?…

Mandi

My child has had a late morning bus going on 2 weeks now starting last week on Tuesday. I’ve called the school, school tells me to call transportation, I’ve called transportation twice (around noon each time!!) leaving voicemails (phones have sunk into the grounds!), I’ve sent emails, and I have YET to hear ANYTHING back from transportation. This morning 9/19/2022, we sat down there at 6:55am as per usual for us, (we are usually there with 10 minutes to spare while waiting on the bus when it usually runs at 7:05am) waited til 7:30am and NO BUS, NO SHOW. I called the school, again, was told to call transportation. I said I already have, they said call around noon, I told them I have multiple times and have had nothing resolved. Now the school is getting involved because I’m not the only parent who is having issues with this bus. It’s obvious that Transportation thinks that education isn’t all that important for children. I’m NOT THE ONLY PARENT in my neighborhood who’s having problems with this bus. Our usual driver, she’s absolutely Fantastic! But what’s up with these Sub drivers Last week when my child waited for the bus til 7:35am, the bus showed up and LITERALLY DROVE RIGHT PAST HER!! Didn’t stop, didn’t slow down, didn’t do a single thing. We were mindblown by what we were seeing!! We as parents shouldn’t have to worry about our child missing the bus DUE TO A DRIVER! Get it together y’all!! I’m at the point of just getting her up at 5:30am and having her out the door with her dad by 6:45am for drop-off at school so we could guarantee that she won’t miss school. I will be calling again and if I get the voicemail box, be prepared to have an upset parent leave a voicemail for you all. I will be asking for the supervisor OVER this area. This is complete and utter nonsense!!!