JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A high school lacrosse coach says his team is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to reliable bus service.
Because of this, his team has been late to their games or had to cancel completely. With nowhere else to turn, he contacted the 'Ask Anthony' team for help.
"We can't let that happen to our kids," Jim Condon said.
Condon is the boy's lacrosse coach at Stanton College Preparatory School.
He says Duval County Public Schools has a contract with a local bus company to take the team to their away games. But there's a problem.
"I would say unreliable, but that would be an understatement," Condon added.
He says the buses are often delayed, or they don't show up at all.
"We had eight away games," he explained. "We had to drive ourselves to four of them. No bus. The other four... the bus was between an hour and an hour and a half late."
Condon says that has put unnecessary stress on his players, and it affects their performance.
Elijah Coulanges is a senior on the team.
"Because of this, we've always been late to our games, or we've had to push them or even cancel them," Coulanges said.
If they don't want to cancel, the players have to drive themselves at the last minute.
"I've got some great young men here. But, as we all know, 17 and 18-year-olds aren't the best drivers on the planet," Condon responded.
Junior Tanner Watson says they had issues with their first away game, which was in St. Johns County. He says they only had ten minutes to warm-up before they had to play the game.
"They had to call them four times, and we finally got a bus an hour and a half late," Tanner Watson said.
The name of the bus company is Randall Transportation. Anthony Austin called the company three times. During the second phone call, he was told the owner was not available, and they would pass along a message.
The third phone call, a person answered the phone and said they would not be discussing the matter and hung up the phone.
Randall Transportation has 3.4 out of 5 stars on Google. One review from a year ago says:
"Unfortunately my school uses this bus company, and they drop the ball almost every day. Our kids are constantly late to and from school."
As for Condon, he just wants better communication between the drivers and coaches.
"Be there when they say they're going to be there," Condon added.
We contacted Duval County Public Schools. A district representative sent a statement:
"We’re sorry to hear of this report. The district actually provides schools with a list of 16 common carriers they can use for after-school activities, including sports and field trips, in addition to STA and Durham. Schools can use multiple carriers throughout the school year as they deem necessary. We would be happy to connect this individual with school or district leadership who can assist him."