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Study recommends neighborhood group stops for West Claremont buses, says district could save roughly $1.6 million annually
Summary
A consultant presented a routing study that proposes shifting from door‑to‑door pickup to neighborhood group stops, auditing rides over 30 minutes and optimizing route tiers; presenters estimated route reductions (77 to ~59) and projected potential annual savings of about $1.6 million, while stressing safety, communication and opt‑in procedures.
A transportation study presented to the West Claremont Board of Education on March 23 recommended switching the district’s bus system from a door‑to‑door model to neighborhood group stops to reduce route time, driver hours and operating costs.
Doug Palmer, the consultant who led the study, told the board that group stops and route optimization can produce significant efficiency gains. He said districts that move from door‑to‑door pickup to neighborhood cluster stops typically see route reductions and lower per‑rider costs. "We're living in an age where we're operating today in 2026 on 1966 rules and regulations," Palmer said, arguing that the district should apply current routing logic to modern traffic and enrollment patterns.
The presentation (which included a short video demonstration) used West Claremont data to illustrate potential savings: the video and consultants said the district could reduce its routes from 77 to about 59, eliminating roughly 18 routes — "a whopping potential annual savings of over $1,600,000," the presentation stated. Consultants explained that the plan includes a five‑step, data‑driven process: analyze student address clusters, identify safe central walking locations, group students into zones that typically require less than 2,500 feet of walking, run routing software and communicate changes early to families.
District staff and consultants emphasized safety and accommodations: special education stops and students with long rides would be handled as exceptions, and the team recommended avoiding private property for stops because of legal concerns about using red warning lights. Mr. Gephardt (district lead on the study) said the transition would not be a formal board action immediately: "This isn't a board action. I'm not gonna ask the board for a board action on this," he said, describing the coming steps — address analysis, parent opt‑in via PowerSchool through May, formation of a transportation committee and targeted communication.
Board members asked about bell time changes, maximum students per stop and behavior at larger stops. Consultants said no bell‑time changes were recommended in phase one and that routing software can model stop capacity and distribution. The study also noted that matching ridership to the state's funding tiers could increase per‑student transportation funding (a cited target ratio of 1.5 riders could yield roughly a 15% increase in transportation funding).
No formal policy change or vote to adopt new stops occurred at the meeting; district staff said they will bring identified stops to the board for approval in August and hire the consultant to help implement the transition.
