County schools may trim number of bus stops

Albemarle officials are mapping out new school bus routes that likely will save the school division money next academic year but would force students to walk farther.

“Even in a regular suburban neighborhood, we’re going to have more children walking to fewer bus stops, as opposed to some of the door-to-door service,” said Josh Davis, the schools’ transportation director.

The adjustment is projected to save $150,000 to $250,000 per year.

Elementary school students will have to walk as far as three-tenths of a mile, which is about 528 yards. Bus stops for middle and high school students will require them to walk up to a half-mile.

Repeated stops and farther traveling on secondary roads add to the school division’s costs, because more fuel is needed and bus drivers are on the clock longer. Facing a drained budget, Assistant Superintendent Bruce Benson charged Davis with looking for ways to increase efficiency. Reducing bus stops is one of Davis’ chief initiatives.

Some parents are unhappy their children will have to walk farther.

Kim Titus, a parent of two elementary school children, recently suggested the school division consider an additional bus stop in her Crozet neighborhood.

“The bus drives right by our house,” said Titus, explaining there were about 10 students who exited a cluster of neighboring homes this past school year and walked down the road to a bus stop.

“I thought it was kind of silly for 10 kids to have to walk a little ways to their bus stop, when their bus drives right by here and could just stop and pick up these 10 children — rather than have one bus stop with probably 25 to 30 kids,” Titus said.

Titus said she appreciates the county’s need to save money, but doesn’t “see where it’s saving any money” to pass the students who live in or near her house.

But with more than 600 school bus routes that run daily, shaving minutes from individual routes and reducing fuel costs pennies at a time adds up to big dollars over the course of a school year, Davis said. Drivers are paid based on how long they work, down to fractions of an hour. And the diesel-fueled buses get as little as 8 miles per gallon.

Davis said routing analysts are examining each route to look for efficiencies.

Travel time for one route being evaluated, for example, could be cut by more than a third, Davis said.

Avoiding cul-de-sacs and making other changes to the Agnor-Hurt Elementary route could cut a trip of more than 30 minutes to just more than 20, Davis said.

“We’re hoping by July 31 to have a real good idea what the routes are going to look like,” Davis said.

Once transportation officials determine the routes, Davis plans to send an e-mail to parents, letting them know about route changes and new bus stops, as well as how to contact officials about problems or concerns.

Not all of the students will have longer walks.

“We do want to ensure that safety remains our No. 1 priority, and the [bus stop] that’s designated should be a safe place, and the walk should be safe,” Davis said.

“We’re not going to have kids walking along the shoulder of Route 20,” Davis said.

Numerous secondary roads are being deemed unsafe for young students to walk on, such as Plank Road.

While some elementary children will have to walk to and from bus stops that are out of sight of their homes, Davis said the school division would work to ensure that the students have safe walks. And the site stops will be re-evaluated “if a family raises concerns about the safety of the assigned bus stop,” Davis said.

The school division asks all families with young children to provide direction about whether children can exit buses alone or with siblings, or whether students should be dropped off only if a parent or designated guardian is waiting.

During some parts of the school year, a relatively small percentage of students will be picked up or dropped off when there is little sunlight outside.

Steve Gissendanner, a Woodbrook Elementary School teacher and member of the Albemarle Education Association, said transportation officials must walk a fine line.

“Obviously, it’s a balancing act between length of time on the bus and safety of the bus stops — and money,” Gissendanner said. “And they’ve been cutting the transportation budget, year after year after year, so they’re getting substantially more cost effective.”

Davis has set out to save a total of $400,000 next fiscal year, compared with the current fiscal year.

For bus drivers who live far from their bus routes, for example, the school division is prohibiting them from taking buses home, because of fuel costs. Davis is also examining cases where special-education students would be able to take traditional school buses, rather than specially designated vehicles — though those cases are being analyzed on a student-by-student basis. The division is also looking to consolidate some bus routes, to have fewer buses carrying more students.

School bus fuel consumption was reduced by about 9 percent in the most recent school year compared with a year earlier, Davis said. Davis expects fuel usage to decrease much more next school year.