WCPSS will put new practices into place for the 2014-15 school year with the
goal of improving yellow bus service for families. The changes are aligned with
the opening of the new school year, and include community outreach to drive the
number of last minute student enrollees in the district down, and setting a
cutoff date for requesting and receiving transportation on the first day of
school.
Families new to using WCPSS yellow school bus service can
request transportation service as they enroll in school. For families to receive
first day service on their school calendar, they must be enrolled and sign up
for bus service approximately one month before the start of school.
What
families need to do
Families who have students enrolled in the current
2013-14 school year and have been using bus service will be presumed to use bus
service in 2014-15, will be automatically included in the plan, and need take no
action.
Families with a kindergarten student who will begin in 2014-15
and already have an older sibling using bus service during the current 2013-14
school year must enroll the rising Kindergartner in school by the cutoff date to
receive transportation services.
Families moving into Wake County or
newly enrolling in Wake County public schools will be able to sign up for
Transportation services as part of enrollment in the school system beginning May
30. A new form for Transportation service will be part of the enrollment
packet. Again, these families must enroll in school and request bus service by
the cutoff date to automatically receive first day transportation
services.
Some families have already enrolled new students for 2014-15
prior to the new processes that will begin on May 30. We have created an online
form for requesting transportation services that will be available on the
Transportation website May 30. We will send a postcard to these families asking
them to visit the online form and click to let us know their need for
transportation services. These families must request bus service by the cutoff
date to automatically receive first day transportation services.
Families
with students in the school system during the current 2013-14 school year who
are not currently using transportation services, but plan to ride the bus at the
start of the 2014-15 school year should also use the online form to sign up for
service. Again, the request for bus service must be made by the cutoff date to
automatically receive first day transportation services.
Cutoff
dates
Year-round calendar schools regardless of track assignment must enroll
and request bus service by June 6 to receive first day service.
Modified
calendar schools must enroll and request bus service by June 25 to receive first
day service.
Traditional calendar schools must enroll and request bus service
by July 21 to receive first day service.
For families who request
Transportation services after the cutoff date, first day bus service is not
guaranteed. Requests received after these cut off dates will be processed in the
order received. Transportation will make every effort possible to provide
service using existing bus stops as quickly as possible.
Bus
stops
Transportation will provide service based on the family’s residence of
record. Requests for additional service, such as to before or afterschool
programs or other alternative stops, will be considered after the first 30 days
of the school calendar. Students who do not use transportation services for 10
consecutive days will be removed from routes. Families would need to request
Transportation services using the online form to reactivate the student’s bus
stop assignment.
Building better bus routes
These new beginning of the
year practices will improve the planning assumptions WCPSS Transportation uses
to establish bus routes. In the past, WCPSS Transportation started with the
assumption that all students may choose to use bus service and school bus routes
evolved during the first weeks of school. This created a situation where
routing specialists could not create the most efficient routes for the start of
school, where families could not rely on timely bus service in the early weeks
of the school year, and where bus drivers had to drive constantly changing
routes.
Beginning the planning process with accurate ridership will
reduce the start of the school year challenges and provide for superior bus
routing. This will provide families better bus service from the start of the
school year. Routes for known riders will be set for the first day of school.
Bus drivers will no longer have to wait at stops for families who don’t plan to
use the service and will practice set routes to be ready for the first day of
school. With superior routing, buses will travel less distance saving money on
fuel and maintenance.
