Servicing a large student population and continued service to two (2) High Schools, two (2) Intermediate Schools, six (6) Elementary Schools, seven (7) Non-public Schools, one (1) Vo-Tech School and one (1) Alternative School, and Special Services, and meeting the needs of a variety of students requires many routes and bus stops. Most busses are traveling 2 or 3 routes each morning and each afternoon - a Secondary and an Elementary. These buses have a limited amount of time to accomplish these routes and additional stops could delay the bus, thereby causing children at other schools to be late.
The Transportation Department will accept requests for bus stop location changes; however, before a stop will be changed or added, the following factors must be taken into consideration.
1. Is the requested bus stop location safe? Does it meet PennDOT safety standards?
2. When possible, bus stops will be located at a public place, or a residence of a student that rides that particular school bus.
3. Stops will be as centrally located as possible for the neighborhood being served and located in such a manner that the average walking distance is approximately the same as the average walking distance for all other children DISTRICT-WIDE.
A stop change, addition, or deletion will not be considered if the result of the change and how it affects the students is not consistent with the type of bus stop ALL OTHER STUDENTS IN THE DISTRICT must use. The goal is to allocate the available bus stops to all students as fairly as possible, serving all neighborhoods equally.
While attempts are made to locate stops where children may find shelter from weather, it is not always possible to do so. Students should dress appropriately and be prepared to wait in the rain or cold for an extended period.
The ability of parents to see the bus stop from their residence IS NOT sufficient grounds to move a bus stop. Placement of bus stops within sight of all students' homes would increase the number of stops which, in turn, would increase the amount of time necessary to run the route. This would then require significant additions to the number of buses and drivers necessary to get the children to school on time.
AT THE BUS STOP Students cannot play games and football, basketball, tag, etc.
A student's behavior at a bus stop, prior to the arrival of the bus, is the responsibility of the parent. Destruction of property and/or vandalism at a bus stop by a student is a civil matter and will be handled by the police. Continued destruction of property or harassment of property owners will result in the bus stop being moved to another, perhaps less convenient location or elimination of the bus stop.