Cobb County restores some school bus stops

By RHONDA COOK

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Cobb County schools will restore 2,500 of 11,000 bus stops it had planned to cut until officials heard from angry parents, spokesman Jay Dillon said Saturday.

Almost all the “adjustments” to be made will involve elementary school routes, he said.

“We listened to parents,” Dillon said. “We heard many good suggestions.”

He said the transportation staff investigated every suggestion, sometimes meeting with homeowners and neighborhood associations.

Parents responded forcefully last week when the Cobb system released a proposal to cut 11,000 of the district’s 50,000 bus stops. Some 78,000 of Cobb’s 106,000 students use public school buses.

Dillon said the district’s transportation staff revised the plan, including adjusting the distance criteria. Stops for elementary students will be as little as a quarter of a mile from schools. Stops for middle and high school students will be as close as a half mile from campuses.

Dillon said the new plan must offer more efficiency for the district’s transportation system but also must be safe for students waiting on the roadside.

Stops have been moved from busy streets to those with less traffic or inside subdivisions. Stops also were put at locations where at least 10-15 students wait for buses.

The district has already restored 2,340 stops for elementary school children. Changes to the remaining 160 stops for middle school and high school students should be completed midweek.

Bus drivers will test the routes before classes start Aug. 10.

The initial bus route plan was designed to save $1 million out of the $42 million in county funds and the $8 million in state dollars that support Cobb’s school bus operation. The savings on the revised plan is not yet known.