Bus rides
In California, districts are slashing bus routes to cope with budget shortfalls and high fuel costs. The Los Angeles Times reports. In Pasco County, Fla., The St. Petersburg Times reports, bus route specialists are re-evaluating the walking conditions leading to 27 campuses to determine whether it’s safe enough to stop giving “courtesy” bus passes to the 2,205 students who received them during 2007-08.
Do you think it’s wise for school districts to be cutting student transportation? Are schools close enough for students to walk? Are their routes for students to walk that are safe from traffic hazards and other dangers?
Leave a comment below.
August 5th, 2008 @ 8:44 am
I think by cutting busing, you are cutting a form of mass transit and simply shifting an even greater expense to the parents by putting more of them on the road having to bring their children to school. School buses are the safest way to get to school, so by students walking and parents driving you may also be causing a safety concern.
One solution may be to charge for the transportation. This would help underwrite the cost while still providing the safest and most eco-friendly means of transportation to this large population.
August 6th, 2008 @ 9:18 am
I believe that busing should be continued. The carbon footprint of having a few buses making their routes has to be much smaller than hundreds of car operating to take kids to and from school. The safety factor, overall cost factor and the convenience for the parents has to be much more favorable as well.
August 6th, 2008 @ 9:29 am
The basic and special-needs bus routes need to be continued, and parents need to use them to transport their children to and from school. Too often, buses run to schools way under capacity because parents are driving kids to school. This not only wastes their fuel but also increases air pollution around the schools. What may need to be curtailed are extra trips for field trips and sports trips.
August 8th, 2008 @ 11:59 am
School transportation needs to operate at a level of efficiency comparable to the business world. Our transportation department maximizes ridership on each bus route; that process has eleminated three bus routes in our school district. Over-assignment of students to bus routes (overbooking)–understanding that not all students will ride–has allowed us to reduce the number of our bus routes. Students need a ride, but do not need a seat to themselves.
August 11th, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
There needs to be something done about those kids who sign up for the bus, but then end up not using it or using it only part-time. Busing for kids that have no other way of getting back and forth to school needs to be continued. I suggest that a cost per day be established for pickup. For each day a student is picked up (with adjustments for sick days, etc.), The total cost for the school year (number of days x cost per day) gets subtracted from the annual cost of providing that service. At the end of the year, for those trips made to pick up a student and the student did not use the bus, that amount is billed to the homeowner to cover the cost of the service provided but unused. In addition to covering the cost of unnecessary trips, parents would be less likely to use busing as a backup and insist that their kids use the bus, or decline to enroll in the first place for fear of owing money at the end of the year. I think that this is a win-win, since full-time users of the bus system would pay nothing as they do now. The actual number of kids signed up to be bused is likly to go down, reducing staff and equipment costs. For those that use the bus only on certain days, a partial pick-up schedule could be used to accomodate those needs as well.
August 11th, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
I think that there is a need to improve on the status quo. There are too many empty or nearly empty buses running the streets, burning gas, and using up expensive equipment. Too many parents sign up their kids for busing, then end up not using it or using it only part-time . (It was “too cold”/”too hot”/”too wet” to let them stand outside waiting, or they “needed to be somewhere right after school.”) In many cases, kids stop using the bus because of peer pressure, as it is often stigmatized as being ‘un-cool’ to ride the bus. For kids that have no other way of getting back and forth to school, districts need to continue providing this service at no additional cost to the parent or student. What I do suggest is that a careful analysis be completed to establish a cost per day for bus service. From this, a total cost of providing this service, by student, should be determined by taking this daily cost and multiplying it by the number of days the student will be expected to attend class during the school year. From this, an adjustment should be made for sick days and the occasional missed use because of late arrival, etc. From this total value, for each day a student is actually picked up, the total is reduced by the established daily cost of service. For students that use the service each day, the end result is that the formula reduces the total cost to zero. For those trips made to pick up a student and the student did not use the bus that exceed the established adjustment figure (sick days, etc.), the amount that is left over is billed to the parents to cover the cost of the service provided but unused. In addition to shifting the expense of the unnecessary trips back to the student’s parents, the fleet size would most likely be reduced as well. Parents, aware that signing up their kids to use the service as a backup plan will now cost them money, would be less likely to use busing as a backup and insist that their kids either use the bus as intended, or would decline to enroll them in the first place. This plan has a number of positive outcomes. First, less fuel is spent, saving money and reducing carbon emissions. Second, since less parents will sigh up for a service they know they are not likely to use. Third, the size of the fleet could then be reduced, saving money on both personnel and equipment. Fourth, for those that continue to use the bus service, with less people signed up to use the bus, routes could be shortened. Shorter bus routes would result in having to start pickup later (a benefit to those who are picked up first), and less fuel cost. I believe that most people in the community would approve of the change, since it is not overly burdensome and not unreasonable. Parents retain the right to use the service at no additional cost, but the right to that service now is treated more like a gym membership than a government provided “free” service. You don’t have to use it, but if you sign up for it and then fail to take advantage of it, it will cost you. To accommodate those students that need bus service only on certain days of the week, a partial pick-up schedule could be employed.