Countless school districts across the country are considering cutting bus service in the face of shrinking budgets, but they often forget that cancelling school bus service raises several new problems.
A new study brings light on this problem by remind us what you most likely already know; eliminating school bus service increases carpool traffic significantly and would create severe traffic problems for most schools.
The study comes from Hoover City Schools in Hoover, Alabama. The district was recently considering cancelling bus service, but the findings show that such a move would have causes significant increases in carpool traffic for approximately three-quarters of schools in the district.
On Monday, the consultant who completed the study informed the school board that as much as 45% of the district’s students rode buses during the 2013-14 school year, and cutting those 145 buses would add approximately 3,500 more cars to the district’s carpool lanes.
In addition, the findings also showed that five school would have seen afternoon pickup times nearly double had the district moved ahead with their plans.
The majority of schools in the district do not offer enough lanes or parking to properly handle these traffic levels, and ending service would require adding at least two carpool pickup lanes on the majority of the district’s school campuses, according to al.com.
After debating the proposed cuts, which would have started in the 2014-15 school year, the school board rescinded the proposal. The board also delayed a plan which would institute fees for school bus service.
For more info on the story, read the report from al.com.
