Youth lobby urges pilot to merge school bus and public transit routes to increase efficiency

Representative Candace White, a member of the House Transportation Committee, introduced students from the Vermont Youth Lobby on Thursday and asked lawmakers to consider a pilot program that would merge some school bus schedules with public transit routes.

"Could we do a pilot program in a particular school district where we looked at merging the school bus schedules, buses with the public transportation buses so that we are not only bringing students to schools, but also serving the greater community with maybe an expanded public transit route," Representative Candace White said.

Why it matters: Committee members said the idea could reduce duplicate trips, save money and bolster transit access for nonstudents, but they raised immediate concerns about supervision, student safety, route coverage in rural areas and weather-related service interruptions. The conversation brought students’ lived experience into a policy discussion that otherwise focused on the transportation bill language for fiscal 2026.

Students who attended described how current service patterns sometimes left buses half-empty on rural segments while other routes were crowded. One student said consolidations sometimes forced riders to “fight for seats” and extended some commute times by as much as 40 minutes. Several students suggested that mixing public riders with students could reduce bullying by increasing adult presence on vehicles.

Committee members and students discussed specific operational challenges that a pilot would need to address: whether public buses could reach remote stops now served by yellow school buses, how after-hours service for athletics and extracurricular activities would be provided, and whether snow days and severe-weather routing would disrupt workers who relied on consolidated routes.

Representative Candace White and several committee members said the idea is preliminary and that detailed operational work would be required. "As far as the busing portion of it goes, that's open up for discussion in terms of what part of our job is to find out as much as possible about what we could or couldn't do in that area," Representative White said. She added that younger students raise additional safety concerns and that any pilot would need buy-in from students, families and school administrators.

Next steps: Representative White said the youth lobby would welcome more feedback from students and families and that the committee would rely on student support to build community backing if a pilot moves forward. Agency staff and committee members indicated follow-up questions would be directed to local school districts and transit providers to assess feasibility.

Community context: Students attending were from multiple districts (including Harwood and Mount Mansfield, as introduced to the committee) and committee members noted that rural route coverage and later buses vary by region. No formal action or vote was recorded on the floor during the session; the remarks were recorded during the committee’s public meeting before the bill walkthrough.