“Previous administrations spent more than $50M on transportation infrastructure to transport roughly 9,000 zoned and choice students to school. This is not sustainable and the District must begin to address the problem in the 2024-2025 school year,” a statement from the district read.
The statement read these changes were guided by a few key principles:
HISD is one of the only districts in the region to transport students who elect to attend a school other than their zoned school. HISD will continue to provide transportation to families who participate in our school choice program.
HISD needs to reduce ride time for our school choice students.
HISD must use transportation resources more effectively.
The following changes have been made in the 2024-2025 school year, according to the statement:
Decreasing the number of bus routes from 508 routes in 2023-2024 to an estimated 423 routes in 2024-2025.
Reduced the ride time for the average student to an hour and fifteen minutes each way. This is down from roughly an hour and forty-five minutes.
HISD plans to reduce total transportation costs this school year by $10M. Streamlining routes will save an estimated $3M. Additional cost savings will come from improving the way we dispatch and manage buses.
Families who use HISD transportation can expect the following, according to the statement:
Students who attend their zoned school and use transportation as well as students with special education needs who require transportation will be served just as they have been.
HISD will continue to provide transportation to students attending a school through the school choice program, but there will be a minor adjustment to the school choice routes. Student bus stops will now be within a three mile radius of the student’s home address. (Previously it was a two mile radius).
Most of the roughly 3000 school choice students who use HISD transportation will be assigned a stop at their zoned high school or middle school, and a bus will transport them to the school of choice they attend. In some cases, to ensure students aren’t crossing dangerous thoroughfares, students will access a bus stop that is not located at another HISD campus.
Families will receive their bus routes before the end of July, and families will immediately be able to access a transportation helpline closer to where they live.
Christian Terry covered digital news in Tyler and Wichita Falls before returning to the Houston area where he grew up. He is passionate about weather and the outdoors and often spends his days off on the water fishing.
T.J. Parker joined KPRC 2 in June 2023 and is happy to be back in Houston. Before coming back to the Lone Star State, T.J. was a reporter in Miami at WSVN Channel 7. There he covered all things up and down the south Florida coast.