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DPS proposes GoDurham pilot for high schools to boost on-time arrival; Northern recommended
Summary
Durham Public Schools told city and county officials it is exploring a pilot allowing high-school students to use GoDurham buses to improve on-time arrival, naming Northern High School as the top candidate and stressing the need to align transit stops and schedules.
Anthony White, senior executive director of auxiliary services for Durham Public Schools, told a joint city–county–DPS meeting that the district is exploring partnerships with GoDurham to "improve access to transportation, reduce barriers for students, and ultimately increase on time arrival rates." White said the effort will focus on secondary students who can travel independently and that any pilot must align transit stop locations with school bell schedules.
White emphasized the district's 90% on-time arrival goal and clarified how DPS measures timeliness: "These percentages are based on students arriving 10 minutes before the first bell, not at the exact start of school." He listed candidate sites for an initial pilot — Northern, Riverside, Hillside, Durham School of Technology (co-located campus), Southern School of Energy and Sustainability and City of Medicine Academy — and recommended Northern High School as the district’s first choice based on location and conversations with school leadership.
Sean, a representative from GoDurham, told the meeting GoDurham has increased frequency at many high-school stops in recent years and aims for at least 90% on-time performance. He said service at Northern will move to a 15-minute frequency on Route 4 starting Aug. 22 to reduce the risk that a missed bus leaves a student waiting an hour. County transit officials credited the 0.5¢ Durham County transit sales tax and the Durham County Transit Plan for the capacity to increase frequency.
Meeting participants asked for follow-up data the district does not yet have in-house: DPS does not currently track how many students use GoDurham to reach school, White said, and he committed to working with county partners to develop a way to collect that ridership metric. Elected officials also urged DPS to define success metrics for any pilot — including ridership, changes in on-time arrival, and whether the pilot reduces pressure from driver shortages — and to share a clear data-collection plan before launching a larger trial.
