As Boston Public Schools kicked off the new school year Thursday, students who relied on the bus had a two-in-three chance of making it to class on time — the district’s highest first-day rate on record.

In addition to its 66% on-time performance rate, Boston saw 85% of its school buses arriving within 15 minutes of the morning bell and 94% arriving within 30 minutes, according to BPS transportation officials.

“This is a strong foundation to continue building on and we look forward to continued improvement in the days and weeks ahead,” officials said in a statement.

More than 20,000 students boarded buses for Boston’s first day of school.

Thursday’s stats mark a sizable gain over last year, when the city posted a meager on-time rate of just 34% amid the rollout of a new bus-tracki

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