Special to the Register
RICHMOND —
The staff at Madison County Schools transportation department has spent the short summer getting the buses ready for the coming school year, which begins Wednesday.
A huge improvement is the implementation of a new radio system provided by the Madison County Emergency Operations Center, to include new radios in all the buses. Each school will have their own “talk-group.” In previous years, all schools were on the same channel and buses had to wait for one school to clear the channel before they could talk to their school. Now the buses at each school will have a clear channel to communicate with their school or principal without the distraction of radio messages from other schools.
New exhaust systems were installed on 29 route buses that still had the old technology exhausts. A federal grant allowed for the installation of DOC and CCV kits on older buses that brought them up to current Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards. This improves the environment and the air.
Bus times, stop locations
With access to the Internet, bus schedules and stop locations are easily acceptable. Visit www.madison.kyschools.us and click on the bus icon on the home page. The icon will link to the Transfinder routing software. By entering your address, you are able to get a highlighted map along with bus route and time information.
For the first week of school, students need only to be standing out near the roadway and bus drivers will pick them up. If there is a “group stop” location, the bus driver will instruct students on the time and location for pick up. After the first week of school, new riders should call the bus garage for help. You can always find out bus route information by calling the bus garage at 624-4560.
Why is the bus late?
Is something wrong?
The first few days of school are an exciting time, but also can be confusing. Even with all the planning that happens during the summer months, new students, new roads and new routes pop up as the school year begins. Route adjustments can affect pickup and delivery times. Many reasons can be given for the delay in pickup or delivery during the first few weeks of school. Parents should know that delays in the morning and especially in the afternoon are common during the first few weeks of school and should be anticipated.
School bus regulations
Parents and students should familiarize themselves with the “Regulations For Pupils Riding Madison County School Buses.” These regulations are given out at the beginning of each school year and requires part of the handout be signed and returned to the principal. Additional copies can be obtained from the school or bus garage.
Did you know?
Madison County Schools buses travel more than 1.7 million miles each year. There are 140 a.m. and p.m. bus routes serving 16 schools and Bellevue Learning Center, and more than 8,000 Madison County Schools students are transported daily. Madison County Schools has two buses garages maintaining the fleet — one in Richmond and one in Berea.
For more information about school buses, call Skip Benton at the bus garage or e-mail skip.benton@madison.kyschools.us.
