DPSCD's first-year yellow-bus pilot at Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy cut chronic absenteeism by 8.5 percentage points among the students who used the buses ten or more times. The data runs through April 2, 2026, the district told board members this week.
The pilot is a $600,000 line item. Four buses, two daily runs at each school, the full 2025-26 school year. Henry Ford pulled 102 riders. East English Village pulled 29. Peak ridership at Henry Ford hit 15 students a day in November.
The intervention is targeted at chronic absenteeism, which the district defines as missing 10 percent or more of school days. Henry Ford's baseline last year was 82 percent of students chronically absent. East English Village's was 77 percent. The district average is 60.9 percent.
Riders who used the bus one to nine times saw a 7-point drop in chronic absenteeism. Riders who used it ten or more times saw 8.5 points. Students inside the eligible zone who did not ride saw a 3.8-point increase.
That last number is the one the board chewed on. The eligible zone produced both the biggest improvements and the biggest regressions, depending on whether students rode. Whether the bus is the cause or whether students who chose to ride were already moving toward better attendance for other reasons is a question the data does not fully answer.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti talked about expansion. The two-school pilot is the proof-of-concept; the question is which schools next and at what cost. DPSCD is the only large urban district in Michigan that does not provide yellow-bus service to most of its high schoolers as a default. Students ride DDOT.
The district has not committed to expansion in the 2026-27 budget. The board's transportation committee returns to the question next month.
