Houston ISD reducing number of bus routes for 2024-25 to cut costs, travel times | Houston Public Media

Bus rides are expected to be shorter this year for many of the 3,000 or so Houston ISD students who rely on school-district transportation to get to a campus outside of their local neighborhood. But they may need to go farther from home to get to their bus stop.

The district announced a series of changes Monday night to the bus routes for students who do not attend their zoned campus but go elsewhere as part of HISD’s magnet and school-choice programs, in the interests of cutting costs and also “reduce the time spent in transit and maximize time spent learning.” HISD is reducing its number of bus routes for the upcoming school year that starts Aug. 12, from 508 routes to 423, and bus stops for magnet and school-choice students will be within a 3-mile radius of their home after previously being within 2 miles.

HISD said the changes are expected to reduce students’ average travel time by about 30 minutes while also saving the district an estimated $3 million during the 2024-25 academic year. The district also said it is modifying the way it dispatches and manages buses in an attempt to reduce its total transportation costs by $10 million.

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“Previous administrations spent more than $50 million on transportation infrastructure to transport roughly 9,000 zoned and choice students to school,” HISD said in a news release. “This is not sustainable and the district must begin to address the problem.”

HISD, during its first year under state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles, has made other cost-cutting moves to help close a funding gap of more than $500 million, such as eliminating teaching positions and other staff roles, including campus-level specialists who help students with unmet needs such as food, clothing and healthcare.

The bus route changes will not apply to students with special education needs or to those who attend their zoned school, with HISD saying they “will be served just as they have been.”

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Students and their families will receive their new bus routes before the end of July, according to HISD, which serves roughly 180,000 students as the largest district in Texas. The district also said families “will immediately be able to access a transportation helpline closer to where they live.”

Most of HISD’s school-choice students will be assigned a bus stop at their zoned high school or middle school, where a bus will then transport them to the campus they attend, the district said.

“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,” the district said.