Team,
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.