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District trims routes, reduces stops and shifts bus schedules to shorten ride times and add driver capacity
Summary
Transportation staff reported consolidating hundreds of stops and eliminating several routes to shorten student ride times, hired six new drivers with more candidates in training, pushed earliest high-school arrivals later, and detailed safety and training steps for drivers and students.
Kermit Mergen and the district transportation team presented route changes and staffing updates to the board on Aug. 7, reporting substantial consolidations intended to shorten student ride times, reduce transfers and improve customer service.
Mergen said 13 drivers retired at the end of last school year; the district has hired six new drivers over the summer and has eight candidates who completed classroom training with hopes to hire several before school starts. The transportation team also added a new dispatcher and posted a new transportation secretary to strengthen customer service.
The routing review used prior-year routes as a baseline, updated student data and additional training time for the district’s routing software. Mergen said the district followed board policy 810 when redesigning stops — including maximum walk distances, avoiding cul-de-sacs when feasible and an annual consolidation plan.
Reported results: about 583 elementary stops eliminated (allowing elimination of nine elementary routes, ~12% of elementary runs); about 167 middle-school stops eliminated with 14 complete middle-school route eliminations; and 235 high-school stops removed with a reduction of four high-school bus runs. Mergen said consolidations allow the district to provide shuttle service for middle-school athletic trips in-district instead of contracting outside providers.
The transportation team also shifted pickup windows to improve student sleep and arrival times: staff said the earliest buses will generally arrive at high schools around 7:00 a.m. (versus roughly 6:45 last year) and the district’s target is no pickups before 6:15 a.m.; one board member noted a few routes still show first pickups around 6:10 a.m. and staff said they would try to adjust those.
Mergen acknowledged PowerSchool was unavailable for district updates Aug. 1–8, delaying public access to bus-stop information; the team expected the information to be available again the following evening and asked families to allow one to two weeks at most for any early hiccups as routes are refined.
On safety, Mergen described expanded driver training beyond CDL requirements, student safety instruction (including a 10-foot safety zone around buses), siting stops on the door side when possible, use of intersection stops and on-bus cameras. Board members praised the consolidation and the potential for students to gain 15–25 additional minutes of sleep; they asked staff to communicate route and dismissal-time impacts for families promptly.
