Aug 30 We Need to Rethink School Transportation in Allegheny County

Aug 30h in Bold Voices by

(August 30, 2024)

This Bold Voices blog post was written by Shauna McMillan, a consultant who has been working with Allies for Children on our school transportation projects.

In a previous job, I worked with a school to encourage more students to show up regularly. On the first day, we gathered community members to welcome students as they entered the building. We had balloons, music, giveaways…it was a party. The principal, staff, and the school itself looked ready to welcome these children with all the warmth they could muster. But that morning, the school district had trouble getting a bus to all the children that needed one. A bus full of students came hours late to the first day of school. How can we tell our students that attendance is important if we can’t give them reliable transportation to be there?

As we begin National Attendance Awareness month in September and draw attention to the importance of children being physically in school to learn, we must also recognize the importance of reliable transportation for all students, and our responsibility to offer it.

Lack of access to reliable transportation is a root cause of chronic absenteeism, one of the greatest indicators of a child’s school successes and graduation rates. Children in all school districts, households, and income levels rely on school transportation. However, the most vulnerable populations rely on it more. As schools struggle with the national bus driver shortage, bus routes become longer, more complicated, and unreliable. This results in longer bus rides (in some cases, up to two hours one way), inconsistent bus pickups, and continuous daily stressors for school staff. Students in more affluent family situations can adjust by seeking alternative transportation. For the most vulnerable students, the school bus is their only option.

As school-choice has become more prevalent, school districts are left with the same amount of responsibility, less funding to do it, and more complicated situations as bus drivers have depleted. Pennsylvania state law mandates school districts to provide transportation to charter and non-public students if the school is located within 10 miles of the district’s boundary. Because of this, districts end up with a small pool of children requiring transportation across long distances in buses that are meant to be full. Student transportation costs increase dramatically. School districts end up pitted against each other as resources are scarce, and every school district has the same pool of drivers available.

The landscape is more and more complicated, and yet, we continue offering transportation in the same way, knowing that how we are doing it is not working. The current system has not been updated since the 1970s. At that time, there were more bus drivers, and bus routes went through local neighborhoods to local schools. Why has nothing changed given this new landscape?

With all these complications, families only see how it is affecting them directly. From our recent survey with responses coming from parents across 33 school districts:

  • 35% believe bus rides are too long
  • 30% wish bus pick-up times were more consistent, and 32% say the same about bus drop-off times
  • 11% of parents no longer use the school bus because it is too inconsistent
  • 29% say they are unhappy with their child’s school bus transportation

Allegheny County school districts need to think creatively on how they can most effectively transport their children. Allies for Children has found that consolidated student transportation systems can save money. On top of this, school districts sharing these difficult and costly routes can improve ride times for children and free-up much needed bus drivers to do other important routes. National examples have shown that sharing buses works. With 43 school districts in Allegheny County alone, there are so many possibilities to consolidate routes as a testament to show our children that we want them in school. It’s time we put the rubber to the road, and get them there.

Check out AFC’s previous transportation reports:
Get on the Bus! Case Studies and Recommendations
School Transportation Update
At the Crossroads: School Transportation in Allegheny County