Hillsborough District Continues To Roll Out Bus System Fixes

Hillsborough District Continues To Roll Out Bus System Fixes
By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 27, 2008
TAMPA - Families in Plant City, Brandon, New Tampa and the area around King High School likely won't deal with the transportation changes next year that put other areas in chaos this year.
"The recommendation for next year is not to add any areas," Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said today during a school board workshop on transportation.
Problems are still being analyzed, six members of the Hillsborough County School Board learned when they gathered for a workshop at 9 a.m. today.
Next up are focus groups in November with drivers, exceptional student education staff, magnet program staff, principals, some school staff and parents. Board member Doretha Edgecomb asked that students also be included.
The district's transportation department came under fire even before schools opened Aug. 18. Phone lines were jammed, and hundreds of parents couldn't get through to get information on bus stop changes even after school opened.
To save money and be more efficient, the district has been phasing in a new plan that places bus stops farther apart, halts courtesy bus service to many families who live less than two miles from their school and also cut bus service to many private day care centers after school.
Planned changes include a Web site that will allow parents to view their bus stops before the 2009-10 school year begins, although how that will work remains a question. The district's transportation chief, John Franklin, said today that the system the district is considering would require parents to register and receive a user name and password to access their child's bus stop information.
A major problem this year was keeping bus stop information from schools so school staff wouldn't have to deal with it. Parents were told to call the transportation call center, which was overwhelmed with calls.
The eight people originally answering those calls put people on hold while they tried to get answers to questions instead of just taking numbers, Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero said.
"They were trying to answer the question then," Otero said, leaving other callers unable to get through.
Along with early notification of stops next year, a new system handling calls will be in effect, Franklin said.
Many callers this year simply wanted a return to bus service they got in the past or a change in bus stops, Franklin said. After the meeting he estimated there have been 300 requests for changes to bus stops, with about 50 approved.
The district still is short 178 permanent bus drivers, he said. Board members suggested an incentive plan to encourage driver attendance.
Also planned is having drivers practice proposed routes before the first day of school to identify problems, a practice that was routine in past years.
A committee is looking at school bell times to see whether adjustments need to be made to make transportation run more smoothly.
Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 mbrown@tampatrib.com.



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