The Madison County School District’s transportation system has offered door-to-door pick-up and drop-off service for years.
However, with the rising costs of fuel, the number of places school buses stop for some middle and high school students will be decreasing when classes begin for the 2008-09 school year.
Elementary bus routes will remain the same.
“The increasing cost of fuel and maintenance costs have caused the need to change the way bus routes are organized,” Skip Benton, director of transportation for the Madison County School District, said in a letter to be sent in the beginning of August to affected parents. “Madison County is one of the few counties that have provided door-to-door pick up/drop off for all students. Changing to group stops will save time, fuel and extend the life of the bus.”
“We’re trying to cut down on the number of times that the brake has to be applied to a full stop and accelerating from a full stop,” he said.
The school district spent more than $886,000 on fuel during the 2007-08 school year and $925,000 already has been budgeted for fuel for the upcoming school year.
The letters also will include bus stop times and locations, along with a reminder that students should arrive at the stop five minutes early.
When possible, the bus stops have been placed to be not more than one-fourth of a mile away from the farthest student, said Benton, adding that nearly all students will be closer than two-tenths of a mile.
Because the process of evaluating the bus routes has not been complete, Benton said he is not sure how many students will be affected by the reorganization.
“It’s really going to be an ongoing process that this is going to evolve into,” he said. “Whatever amount of time I can put into it, that many more routes will be looked at. I can’t look at all of the routes this summer.”
“I probably have 500 letters (to be sent) right now,” Benton said. “How many I’ll have next week, who knows? I have eight high school/middle school routes that are ready to go right now.”
Eight thousand students ride the bus on average, he said.
The change is something the district has talked about for awhile, but Benton said serious discussions began toward the end of last school year.
It is too early to tell how much money the district could save by eliminating some of its door-to-door bus service, he said.
“Once we start getting our fuel bills and comparing them to the year before, that’s when we’ll know an actual dollar amount,” Benton said. “That’s when we’ll know whether it will be an economical reason to continue this.”
As with any change, Benton said he does anticipate some negative reaction from parents.
“We’re trying to run the transportation system in the most efficient manner possible and still be cognizant of the safety of the children,” he said preemptively to any potential criticism. “This is something that is an accepted practice nationwide.”
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