Update February 2025: a remarkable change has taken place. The number of busses has been reduced. Two remain. Bus 354 now has a responsible driver who stops at stop signs faithfully and drives at a moderate speed. The small bus (number?) has the same good driving habits. What a welcome change. Thank you Positive Connections. Update March 18, 2021. A bus going west at 7:33 ran the stop sign and was speeding according to the digital speed monitor. When called in, the woman who answered was rude and didn't care. She made the argument that " buses will drive down the street." I pointed out that that is not the point. The point is they break the traffic laws! And nothing has changed in years Update: on Oct 19, 2018 an unmarked police vehicle caught on video, pursued and ticketed a PC school bus speeding right through a stop sign on Grant without slowing down at all. Mid November 2018 another unmarked police vehicle ticked the driver of a bus loaded with children who sped right through the stop sign without slowing down. Indisputable proof to District 65 that they need to take a look at their bus service for our children. Original review:. I have kept a log of buses running the stop signs and speeding in northwest Evanston. These infractions are a daily occurence. I've witnessed children in the crosswalk running across the street to get out of the way of buses roaring toward them.That district 65 continues to use this group which employs drivers with no regard for laws or safety is a community disgrace. read more

Horrible service without apologies. They gave me the wrong drop off time for my daughter two days in a row and the bus driver had the nerve to ask me "why I can't be on time." I really hope King Lab does not hire this bus company next year or ever. Few things make me angrier than paying $422 for my daughter to be on the bus for an hour and a half and for the bus driver to tell me off when he can't be at the bus stop at the time he says. read more

This school bus no. 434 was driving recklessly up Lake Shore Drive from I 55 and was also speeding and driving in and out of traffic-fast lane slow lane. Finally only near Irving Pk Rd exit did the police finally pull this vehicle over. Read other reviews. The bus company has a bad reputation. Don't let your child be a victim of this bus company. read more

Usually I use positive connections for school events, and they're a pretty cheap service. The last time I used them the drivers showed up 20 minutes late to a social event, and on top of that cashed in the deposit fee when the buses didn't require cleaning. Horrible customer service, they lied and refused to refund money read more

Worst. Bus service. EVER. Would have given negative stars if possible. One star is the lowest and way too generous. Totally unreliable.

I used Positive Connections once and will be using them again. I scheduled a work trip to Medieval Times for 35 people. I was able to easily book the bus and the price was very fair and even cheaper than some of the other companies that I got estimates from. The bus arrived early (which was great) and the driver was helpful in getting us all loaded. The bus stayed in the parking lot while we enjoyed the show and the driver was waiting for us when we got out. We had a very safe ride and an overall great experience. read more

At 1:30 pm today, Saturday I was going west on the bottom road south of Spring Valley, IL and Positive Connections bus #793 was going north on Route 89 and turned to go east on bottom road without slowing down and came around the corner so fast she was in my Lane and would have hit me head on if I wouldn't have stopped. Totally reckless and unsafe for anyone on the bus or driving close to her! read more

My Kindergartner was dropped off at the wrong stop (1 mile away from my house) with no adult at the stop on a snowy, freezing cold day. She was fortunately brought home safely by the police. Positive Connections did respond well to the incident by firing the bus driver, but I doubt I will put my child on the bus again. read more

My kid dropped her phone on the bus. As the bus is pulling away she and her teacher realize. They call the bus company, who tells them they will contact the driver and locate the phone, but low and behold, bus driver "Lisa" - not sure if that is her real name - is dishonest and says no phone on the bus. This occurred 06/03/14. Who steals from kids? Crappy companies with crappy employees that is who! Don't use them! read more

Driving from Skokie to Evanston on Church Street. The bus driver switched lanes without signaling and it was raining rather steadily. I avoided the big yellow bus by slamming on my brakes, but I would rather not have been in the situation. Perhaps the bus driver of bus #404 needs to take a driving test! Hopefully the driver doesn't drive irradically with children on the bus. If I were a parent, I'd be worried about my child's safety. read more

Don't get me started... Occasionally you'll get a gem of a bus driver but the management is utterly incompetent. The only thing they're good at is making excuses for late buses. There, they excel. A dysfunctional organization. read more

Positive Connections school buses made it a habit last summer of illegally parking on residential streets in Rogers Park (Chicago), and it's started happening again. Today, there is a bus taking up two spaces on Fargo Ave., just east of Hoyne. There is a lot of utility work currently going on the adjacent streets, and we don't have nearly enough parking for residents at present, let along a knucklehead illegally parking a commercial Evanston vehicle on a Chicago street. I called the company, and got the same "meh" response that I did last year - that is, until we had police start ticketing these vehicles. Why the City of Evanston contracts with this company is a mystery. Terrible, thoughtless drivers, irresponsible company. read more

My son rides the bus to school every day and in the past month alone they have been consistently late and/or gotten lost with kids on the bus. Today the bus was over 25 minutes late dropping him off and when I called the main number the woman on the phone did not want to check on the bus and interrupted me and shouted at me telling me I needed to sit and wait for him and that I needed to be patient. She also told me I was being rude even though it was she who kept cutting me off and talking over me when I was trying to answer a question. So I confirmed with her that she was NOT going to call and check where the bus was and she hung up on me. I called the school district to see if they could maybe help me out but surprise surprise, they've already gone home. So I left a message and called the bus service again I was connected to some random voice mail. I hung up and called again, asked to speak to a manager and the woman said no one else was available. I asked for her name and she would not provide it until I asked twice more. I then proceeded to tell her that if they could not locate my son I would call the police and she was nice after that. She claimed to have called me back and spoken to someone, which is a lie because the call back number from work is a non-working extension and she supposedly told them the bus driver was just a few minutes away. The office staff needs to learn some manners because this is not the first time they've been extremely rude and condescending on the phone. I do wish the school district would intervene and but that seems like a long shot. Our regular bus driver however is the nicest lady you could ever come across. She knows the kids and does her best to get to each stop on time. The office staff and substitute bus drivers however all need to be replaced. read more

The bus reserved for an important event failed to show up. The workers at the Evanston office are rude. One of them started yelling and hung up when asked for a valid explanation of what had happened. read more

Bus 325 was speeding and weaving in traffic at 8:25 am on Ridge Road in Evanston. Won't trust this company with my children's safety.

We ordered 6 buses for transportation for a large evening event. We were treated absolutely terribly by the bus drivers and the company. They were argumentative, and rude and were not communicating with us at all. Even worse, one of their bus drivers physically harassed a female guest, and we are seriously considering pressing charges at this point. I would highly suggest that you not use this bus company. I can't believe that they let people like this drive elementary school children to school every day. read more

Bus#430 blocks a lane of traffic every day just south of Oakton on Caldwell. Instead of the normal red lights on while they load children, the driver puts the hazard lights on. 5-7 minutes every morning they hold up traffic while the driver waits for all of the children from the apt complex. Made several phone calls to the bus company about this but the driver continues to do it. If there needs to be a parent/driver conference every morning - perhaps it should be done in the barnaby's parking lot where he sits from 730-750 instead of holding up commuters trying to get to work. read more

NEVER, EVER charter this company. They are radically unprofessional. There was nothing "positive" about my experience doing business with them. I chartered them for my wedding. Originally they quoted me at one price. Two days before the wedding the called me and left me a message stating that they had made a "mistake" and I would have to pay double the original quoted price. I told them we had an oral agreement and their new price was way more than other services I had looked into. They apologized and said that it was "their fault" and agreed again to the original terms. Then they just didn't show up. I had 100 people standing out in the cold waiting for their bus, which never showed up. They didn't answer their phone that night. When I called later they said "Oh sorry, their must have been some kind of mix up." They offered no recompense. I would never do business with these people again. You should not either. read more

This is one of the most unprofessionally run companies I've ever seen. Last week on my way home from school, the bus driver decided it was a good idea to make a left turn in THE RIGHT LANE on Harlem Ave right by the CVS. Unreal. Finally, the kids were yelling to stop the bus and she finally did and every (I mean EVERY) kid got off the bus. We used to have a permanent bus driver, but then he must have quit or gotten fired. I don't blame him for quitting. But now we have a new driver every single day and you will never know when they will show up. Some days I will be standing at the stop in the freezing cold for upwards of 40 minutes. I'm told to be out there by 7:15, and the bus comes at 7:40 sometimes even later. There has also been times when the bus never came! They put these drivers in the bus and they don't know the route so they rely on the kids to give them directions. Very unprofessional if you ask me. Sincerely hope my school changes bus companies next year. read more