Study to Assess Transportation Options for Delayed High School Start Guilford Public Schools Summary of Findings November 2015 DRAFT The District Management Council 133 Federal Street, 7 th Floor Boston, MA 02110 Tel: 877-DMC-3500 Fax: 617-491-5266 www.dmcouncil.org
INTRODUCTION The District Management Council (DMC) partnered with Guilford Public Schools to study the district s current transportation practices and assess transportation options for a delayed high school start time. The district s interest in a delayed high school start time reflects extensive research documenting the academic and health benefits of additional sleep for high school students. In response to significant community interest, the district asked DMC to speak with key district and community stakeholders, and to collect and analyze data on current transportation practices to build a fact base that would provide options for how to adjust school start times. The ultimate goals of the study were to assess transportation options to accommodate a delayed start, and to codify the human impacts of each scenario, so that the district could consider how changes to the start time would impact transportation services and after-school programming. The methodology used to conduct this study was as follows: 1. Interview district and community stakeholders DMC interviewed a representative group of district stakeholders to better understand current transportation practices and to assess the pros and cons of different potential approaches to changing the high school start time. The following groups and individuals were interviewed: Representatives of the Board of Education The Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent School principals representing elementary, middle, and high school buildings Representatives from the Athletic and Guidance Departments Representatives from the district s transportation provider, Student Transportation of America (STA) and the district s transportation office Parent representatives (including parents of current elementary, middle, and high school students) 2. Conduct a ridership study DMC collected detailed information on actual ridership and ride times. For three days during May 2015, each driver was asked to record the number of students who actually rode the bus and actual bus run duration for each regular bus route in the morning and afternoon. With this data, DMC developed a detailed model of current transportation practices to highlight typical daily ridership, average ride length, and the current utilization of existing bus capacity. 2
3. Develop alternate transportation scenarios Using the findings from the focus groups and ridership study, DMC explored scenarios that would allow for a delayed high school start. These scenarios were developed with input from STA to refine the parameters used to plan bus routes, and to develop new bus routes for each scenario in order to assess the number of buses that would be necessary to meet student ridership needs. 4. Codify scenarios and associated impacts Once the scenarios were finalized, the final versions were integrated with the information gathered from interviews to codify how different scenarios might impact the district from a transportation and programming perspective, with particular focus on potential impacts for after-school athletics. 3
DISTRICT BACKGROUND I. Current school start times and transportation practices Guilford Public Schools currently operates on a three-tier school start/transportation model. The district currently uses up to 32 buses daily for regular in-district bus service. The district s four K-4 elementary schools are community based, and each has a dedicated pool of buses. The district has two middle schools (one serving grades 5-6 and the other serving grades 7-8); because these schools serve students from across the district, students from both schools ride the bus together, with buses assigned to runs in the northern or southern parts of the district. The same practice exists at the high school, which serves the entire district in grades 9-12. Below is a summary of the current start/end times for each school. Current School Start Times School Start Time End Time Guilford High School 7:25 AM 2:08 PM Adams 7-8 8:00 AM 2:40 PM Baldwin 5-6 7:50 AM 2:40 PM K-4 Elementary Schools 9:00 AM 3:25 PM Existing bus routes are heavily influenced by the following practices: Near universal practice of door-to-door pickup and very little walking Despite district policies that allow for up to a mile of walking, almost all students receive door-to-door pickup, and there does not appear to be an enforced expectation that student who live within walking distance of school are not provided with bus service. The primary drivers for this practice appear to be the geography of Guilford especially the lack of sidewalks and a district transportation policy that places stringent parameters for what constitutes a safe walking environment. Practice of planning based on universal ridership The current process for planning bus routes assumes that nearly every student will ride the bus; routes do not change significantly from year to year, and are simply updated to reflect students advancing a grade each year. II. Current Obstacles Interviews with district leaders and the transportation provider surfaced the following as significant obstacles for transportation planning: Geography and Topography Guilford is a large town (approximately 50 square miles), with many relatively rural areas and numerous small cul-de-sac type roads that are difficult for buses to navigate. The layout of the town can lead to long and circuitous bus runs; in certain instances, buses are actually forced to pass through neighboring towns to access certain neighborhoods. 4
Insufficient time to complete afternoon runs The transportation company reported that the end times of high school, middle school, and elementary school are too close together for many buses to complete all three runs on time. The particular challenge is for middle school, because each bus has to first complete its high school run and then pick up students at both middle schools, which can add 10-15 minutes to the bus run. III. Findings from District Ridership Survey Data indicates that current practices for planning transportation have led to underutilization of transportation resources. Because the district relies primarily on door-to-door pickup, it has been very challenging to plan routes of a reasonable length; to address this issue, the district is forced to use a greater number of buses than it needs, and many buses are routinely less than half full. The following tables illustrate average ridership, ride length, and utilization of available bus capacity for morning and afternoon bus runs: Ridership, Capacity Utilization, and Ride Length: AM Runs % of students riding bus* utilization (based on district capacity targets) utilization (based on maximum capacity of each bus) # of buses less than half full ** # of buses with average ride time <45 minutes # of Bus Tier Runs** High School 25 34% 32% 21% 23 25 Middle School 32 70% 45% 34% 21 24 Elementary 32 64% 40% 36% 12 14 Total Runs 89 Ridership, Capacity Utilization, and Ride Length: PM Runs % of students riding bus* utilization (based on district capacity targets) utilization (based on maximum capacity of each bus) # of buses less than half full** # of buses with average ride time <45 minutes # of Bus Tier Runs** High School 26 40% 36% 24% 22 26 Middle School 31 74% 50% 38% 18 25 Elementary 31 65% 41% 37% 10 14 Total Runs 88 * Based on most recent enrollment data available on GPS website ** Only includes buses going to/from district schools 5
Walking Distances and Pick-Up/Drop-Off Times Walking Distance* Earliest Pickup Time Latest Drop-Off Time High School n/a 6:21 AM 2:48 PM Middle School n/a 6:57 AM 3:40 PM Elementary n/a 8:02 AM 4:25 PM * Note: Exact figures not available, but most students receive door-to door pickup These results suggest three key findings: 1. The district has more buses than it needs to meet daily ridership needs On average, the district routinely uses less than half of its total bus capacity at any given time, and, with the exception of elementary school, the majority of buses appear to be less than half full on a regular basis. 2. While the majority of middle and elementary school students ride the bus, the majority of high school students do not According to the survey results, between 34% and 40% of high school students ride the bus on a regular basis, and a significant but much smaller percentage of elementary and middle school students do not appear to regularly ride. While these numbers may fluctuate somewhat during the course of the school year for example, ridership may have been lower than normal at the high school due to a large number of school trips that take place during the spring better aligning transportation planning to anticipated ridership will help increase efficiency. 3. There is a potential opportunity to achieve efficiency by combining routes The large number of buses with many empty seats, as well as the number of buses with routes under 45 minutes, suggests an opportunity to combine to fewer routes to achieve greater efficiency. In addition to these findings, another observation is that the current routes have wide variation in ride times by age level. While the average bus routes by age level ranged from 25-37 minutes, a number of runs were noticeably longer: Summary of Bus Run Times by tier (AM and PM combined) overall ride time # of runs over 40 minutes Longest Tier ride time High School 25 minutes 36 minutes - Middle School 37 minutes 58 minutes 19 Elementary School 33 minutes 54 minutes 9 IV. Other uses of district buses In addition to its regular in-district bus runs, the district s buses are used for some ancillary transportation. During the high school runs, 7 buses are not needed for regular in-district use; some of these buses are used to provide transportation to vocational programs in other school 6
districts, and are also used to provide transportation for athletics. In addition, the district provides courtesy shuttles to take students to local after school programs. These services were beyond the scope of this study. The district is currently able to provide all of these services with its existing bus fleet in part because the extra buses are available at the times of day when ancillary transportation is required. It is worth noting, however, that among the 25 buses currently in use for high schools runs, 23 were less than half full during the ridership study. 7
APPROACH TO DEVELOPING ALTERNATE SCENARIOS I. Modifications to Current Practice In order for the district to accommodate a delayed start time while minimizing the impact on transportation, it must implement new guidelines for how bus routes get planned. The goal is to have fuller buses (meaning fewer buses overall). Achieving this goal primarily depends on two levers: 1. Shifting to cluster-stop pickup and drop-off One way to get increases in efficiency is to curtail the practice of door-to door pickup and ask students to walk short distances (e.g., to the end of a cul-de-sac) to a more central location. This allows each bus to cover more territory in the same time, thereby serving more students. This will be a significant shift for most families that have become accustomed to door-to-door pickup, and will require the district to clearly communicate to parents the new policy and its underlying rationale. 2. Planning based on actual ridership The other lever for increased efficiency is to plan routes based on the assumption that not all students ride the bus every day. Based on the findings of the ridership study, bus routes can be planned with an assumption that a certain percentage of the students on each route will not ride on a given day. II. Key Inputs for planning scenarios Based on the findings from the ridership study and feedback collected during interviews, DMC developed multiple scenarios for creating alternate bus routes, which were vetted with the district transportation coordinator and the STA management team. These scenarios were based on the following variables: Walk zones (high school only) High school students who lived within a certain distance of school would not receive bus service. Distance to stop Each scenario established targets for how far students would walk from their house to a bus stop based on their grade level. Ride time Each scenario set a target for the longest amount of time a student would spend on the bus; district policy allows for rides of up to 60 mins as a general rule, but allows for exceptions if necessary. Assigned number of riders Each scenario set a target for how many students would be assigned to each bus, based on the expected rates of ridership at different grade levels. 8
III. Factors that influence efficiency of runs While current ridership trends, especially at the high school, suggest that it is possible in theory to achieve significant efficiency gains by filling buses for every run, in practice the efficiency gains are more moderate. Three factors contribute to this challenge: Balancing ridership with ride length Because assigning more students to a bus increases the length of the ride, there is a practical limit to how full the buses can be without having rides that are too long. Allowing for daily fluctuation in ridership While it makes sense to assign more students to each bus for runs with low ridership, it is necessary to allow some flexibility for times of year where ridership increases. This is especially challenging at the high school level, because buses can safely take fewer passengers at these runs, limiting the ability to add extra students without running the risk of having too many students on high-ridership days. Accounting for travel time between schools Another facet of ride time is that, under any scenario, it is necessary to build in time for buses to travel between schools, and to travel from a school drop-off out to their first pickup for the subsequent runs; this limits the ability to extend bus runs to include more students 9
ALTERNATE SCENARIOS Note: The figures depicted below represent initial projections of the number of bus runs and vehicles necessary under each scenario; however, it is likely that, in either scenario, a few bus runs would need to be added to compensate for excessive ride lengths and early pick-up times. See Appendix A for more information. Scenario 1: Maintain Three-Tier Model with Middle School Starting First I. Overview Under this approach, the district could achieve a 55-minute delayed start for the high school by having the middle schools begin at 7:30, the high school begin at 8:20, and the elementary schools begin at 9:30, operating according to the following bell times: Scenario 1: Proposed Bell Times School Start Time End Time Baldwin & Adams 7:30 AM 2:10 PM Guilford High School 8:20 AM 3:00 PM K-4 Elementary Schools 9:30 AM 3:55 PM It is important to note that these bell times are different from the current school bell times; in order to implement this scenario, it would be necessary to adjust the bell times in order to allow sufficient windows of time for buses to complete each run. II. Inputs for route planning The three tier model was designed based on the following parameters: Scenario 1: Summary of inputs for route planning Input K-4 5-8 9-12 Walk zone - - ½ mile Distance to stop ¼ mile ¼ mile ¾ mile Max ride length 60 mins 55 mins 50 mins Max assigned # of riders* 75 72 70 *Based on anticipated ridership; expected daily ridership will be lower 10
III. Summary of projected routes The three tier approach would require a total of 66 bus runs in the morning, and 77 bus runs in the afternoon, with a maximum of 32 buses operating at once: Scenario 1: Routes Summary # of Bus Runs overall ride length amount of time a student is on the bus # of riders assigned Largest # of riders assigned Anticipated daily ridership* AM Middle School 20 55 mins 38 mins 62 72 50 High School 21 32 mins 23 mins 55 70 25 Elementary 25 42 mins 25 mins 48 68 45 Total Runs 66 PM Middle School 32 39 mins 27 mins 39 52 40 High School 24 29 mins 17 mins 48 70 30 Elementary 21 60 mins 29 mins 58 73 50 Total Runs 77 *Note: Anticipated ridership based on ridership study and the largest number of students assigned to a bus run in each tier Scenario 1: Walking distances and pickup / drop-off times Walking Distance Pickup Time Earliest Pickup Time Drop-Off Time Latest Drop-Off Time Middle School 0.1 miles 6:45 AM 6:01 AM 2:47 PM 3:07 PM High School 0.1 miles 7:57 AM 7:27 AM 3:17 PM 3:53 PM Elementary 0.1 miles 9:04 AM 8:26 AM 4:24 PM 5:21 PM Scenario 1: Limitations to efficiency The main obstacle to further efficiency gains in this model is the need to balance ride length with the number of students assigned to each bus. Because most buses will need to make three runs, there is limited flexibility to increase run lengths, because the routes need to allow sufficient travel time for buses in between runs. This is already a challenge that Guilford faces with the existing start times, but it becomes more pressing in this model because buses have more students. As a result, it was necessary to adjust the start time for the elementary to allow sufficient time for the buses to get to their respective destinations. Scenario 1: Cost Implications While it is impossible to know for certain what the actual financial impact of new bus routes will be until they are put out to bid, there is a way to estimate the impact. In rough numbers, the cost of a bus making six runs a day is about $50,000 a year. Approximately half of this is a variable cost (labor of the driver, gas, and wear and tear) and half is capital costs for the bus itself. 11
This suggests that changes in the total number of buses needed and the number of runs will each impact the ultimate cost. In Scenario 1, fewer runs are needed, but not fewer total buses. The reduction in runs could free up $100,000 to $150,000. These savings may be offset by the need for athletic and other after school transportation, since the final run will require 32 buses, which is the current number of buses available. IV. Potential trade-offs to this approach Maintaining a three- tier model with reversed start times for middle school and high school offers two main advantages: Larger delay in start time for high school Keeping in mind the original goal of added sleep time for high school students, this model provides a significant amount of extra time in the morning. Greater flexibility to handle fluctuations in ridership If the district keeps its three-tier model, they will likely retain some extra capacity throughout much of the day within the existing fleet, especially given that the shift to cluster stops will allow each bus to pick up more passengers in a shorter amount of time. However, implementing this scenario also raises important challenges: Nearly all students will walk to a bus stop Increasing the number of students on each bus without creating unmanageable ride times requires a cluster stop approach for pick-up and drop off. For the average student, this means walking about 1/10 th of a mile, but some students will have to walk further up to ¼ mile grades K-8 and up to ¾ of a mile for grades 9-12. While this is allowable under district policy, it will be a significant shift for many families. Early start time for middle school students and late start time for elementary school students As noted in the summary of bell times above, this scenario would require middle school students to begin school at 7:30 AM, meaning that some students would be outside before 6:30 AM, which may be a source of concern for parents. Similarly, the delay in the elementary school start and end times may be of concern to parents whose work schedules could make a 9:30 AM start unrealistic. The need to provide additional transportation capacity for ancillary transportation during the afternoon A three tier model would almost certainly reduce, and potentially eliminate, the capacity to provide transportation to athletic events on a regular basis without additional expansion of the bus fleet or pursuing a separate contract for this service. Larger potential for students to miss instruction to attend athletic events Under the current athletics schedule, students who travel to out-of-town events leave as early as 2:15 PM; unless adjustments can be negotiated with other districts, some students would, on certain days, need to leave school up to 45 minutes early. 12
Scenario 2: Merge to a 2-tier model I. Overview Under this approach, the district would achieve a 30-minute delay in the high school start time by have grades 7-12 begin at 8:00 AM, and have grades K-6 begin at 9:10 AM, operating according to the following bell times: Scenario 2: Proposed Bell Times School Start Time End Time Guilford High School and Adams 8:00 AM 2:40 PM Baldwin and K-4 elementary Schools 9:10 AM 3:35 PM II. Inputs for route planning The two tier model was designed based on the following parameters: Scenario 2: Summary of inputs for route planning Input K-6 7-12 Walk zone - ½ (9-12 only) Distance to stop ¼ mile ¾ mile Max ride length 60 mins 50 mins Max assigned # of riders* 75 70 *Based on anticipated ridership; expected daily ridership will be lower III. Summary of projected routes As the following summary indicates, the two tier approach would require a total of 74 bus runs in the morning, and 76 bus runs in the afternoon, with a maximum of 46 buses operating at once. Scenario 2: Routes Summary # of Bus Runs overall ride length amount of time a student is on the bus # of riders assigned Largest # of riders assigned Anticipated daily ridership* AM HS/Adams 28 39 mins 28 mins 64 70 40 Baldwin/Elementary 46 42 mins 27 mins 39 67 45 Total Runs 74 PM HS/Adams 39 30 mins 19 mins 46 50 30 Baldwin/Elementary 37 44 mins 27 mins 49 70 50 Total Runs 76 *Note: Anticipated ridership based on ridership study and the largest number of students assigned to a bus run in each tier 13
Scenario 2: Walking distances and pickup / drop-off times Walking Distance Pickup Time Earliest Pickup Time Drop- Off Time Latest Drop-Off Time High School / Adams 0.1 miles 7:27 AM 6:42 AM 3:01 PM 3:36 PM Elementary/Baldwin 0.1 miles 8:33 AM 7:49 AM 4:07 PM 4:44 PM Scenario 2: Limitations to greater efficiency The major obstacle to greater efficiency for a two-tier model is the increase in ridership and destinations for each run, which is due to the combination from 3 separate tiers to 2 tiers. Clusters stops and ridership-based planning add some efficiency, but these gains are offset by the significant increase in the number of students on each run, because each run covers a larger number of grades. Additionally, a two-tier model requires every bus to stop at two schools on every run, which adds time to the runs and reduces the distance and thereby the number of students each bus can cover. Scenario 2: Cost Implications The two tier option reduces the number of runs by 27 in total but increases the total number of buses to 46. This will increase the total cost of transportation. Again, the exact increase can t be determined without competitive bidding, but it is likely to cost an additional $250,000 or more each year. Some vendors may have a much higher price, if they estimate on a per bus cost rather than a per bus and per run cost. Both are common practices. IV. Potential trade-offs to this approach Moving to a two tier model offers several potential advantages: Better utilization of existing bus capacity By combining tiers, the district will maximize the percentage of students riding during each bus run, thus avoiding low-ridership high school runs. Later start time for bus routes Under this model, the earliest bus runs will be eliminated, addressing concerns about students waiting outside too early in the morning. Larger windows for bus runs Fewer runs will allow the district to stagger the runs more evenly, making it easier for bus drivers to complete runs on time. Possibility of cross school collaboration Since many teacher certifications are for primary or secondary grade ranges, having grades 7-12 start and end at the same time would allow for teachers from both schools to collaborate, and would potentially allow the buildings to share teachers as needed. 14
Implementing a two tier scenario poses the following challenges for planning transportation: Nearly all students will walk to a bus stop Increasing the number of students on each bus without creating unmanageable ride times requires a cluster stop approach for pick-up and drop off. For the average student, this means walking about 1/10 th of a mile, but some students will have to walk further up to ¼ mile grades K-6 and up to ¾ of a mile for grades 7-12. While this is allowable under district policy, it will be a significant shift for many families. More students for each bus run Combining schools for bus runs adds several hundred students to each run, requiring both additional vehicles and longer bus routes. More stops for each bus In a two tier model, every bus has to travel between two schools on each run, which adds 10-15 minutes to the length of the trip. Eliminating capacity for ancillary transportation The increased number of riders for each run means that it is likely the bus company will no longer have the capacity to provide out-of-district or athletics transportation without adding additional vehicles. Early Dismissals for Athletics One aspect of school operations that would be most directly impacted by a change in the high school start times is the athletics program. Travel to sporting events (and, in some cases, practice) sometimes requires students to leave between 2:15 and 2:45 PM. According to the Director of Athletics, there are three broad challenges to accommodating a delayed start: Travel time to away games Guilford is not centrally located in its athletic conference, requiring longer travel times; in order to allow sufficient time for pre-game warmups, it is not feasible to significantly delay departure unless the start time of the games can be changed. Lack of flexibility to change start times of games In many cases, there is limited flexibility to adjust the start times of games due to fieldsharing agreements with community organizations that place a hard stop on when games need to be complete. Limited field space to accommodate delayed practices The district only has one lighted field; currently, practices are stacked, meaning that they are sequenced from the end of school into the early evening, to allow for all teams to have access to sufficient field space. Unless practices are shortened, there is very little flexibility to compress the schedule. For other districts that have implemented a delayed start, a common solution to the issue of travel is to have students leave school early on the days where it is absolutely necessary because the event start times cannot be adjusted to accommodate a later departure. The data below, 15
provided by the Athletic Department, gives a sense of the scale of this issue, based on athletics schedules from the 2013-2014 school year: Athletics Impact Summary (Based On 2013-2014 Athletics Schedule) Total # of students # of events requiring early dismissal School/Season Guilford High School Fall 363 2 Winter* 276 10 Spring 484 6 Adams 7-8 Fall 151 2 Winter 85 4 Spring 139 1 * Note: The higher average events in winter is due to hockey, which requires frequent travel to the ice rink; for non-hockey players, the average athlete would have left early 6 times during the winter season These figures may fluctuate from year to year, but the data shows that that, in most cases, the average student athlete would need to leave early fewer than 5 times per season. For a smaller group of students, this number is higher, because certain sports require daily travel to practice facilities; furthermore, given that some students participate in multiple sports during the year, they will accrue a larger number of dismissals over the course of the school year. 16
IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS Regardless of which approach the district adopts, there are several factors the district must take into account in order for implementation to be feasible; some of these factors, especially those associated with transportation, have potential budgetary impacts. I. Implementation considerations for revised transportation model In order for the district to adopt any of the proposed adjustments to the transportation plan, the following steps are necessary: Complete an updated road safety assessment to verify cluster stop locations Prior to implementing the new routes, the district will need to conduct a full road safety audit in concert with STA and local public safety officials to verify that the proposed locations for cluster stops are feasible. Communicate to parents the rationale and policy for adopting cluster stops, and define a formal appeal process for parents who want a different stop Historically, STA has been expected to work with parents to accommodate individual requests for modifications to their students bus services; in order for either scenario to be implemented successfully, the district will need to communicate to parents that STA is operating at their direction, and that parents will be required to use a formal appeal process if they want their students bus stop to change; in developing this process, the district should articulate the specific situations under which a change in bus stop would be considered (i.e., the safety of the stop location or of the student s walking route to the stop). Consider updates to the district transportation policy to reflect the switch to cluster stops The current transportation policy sets a large number of restrictions on what constitutes safe bus stops and safe walking routes; while safety is certainly of the highest priority, the policy as written may complicate efforts to transition from curbside pickup to a cluster-stop approach. Consider hiring a separate service provider for athletics transportation In the event that the district s transportation provider is unable to provide athletics transportation without additional vehicles, the district may want to explore alternate providers for athletics transportation, to be hired on an as-needed basis, as this may be a lower-cost option to providing these services. Confirm that existing teacher/staff contracts will allow drop off and dismissal coverage for new routes: One concern raised by the transportation team is that it will be necessary to ensure that schools have sufficient staff to cover arrival and dismissal on a daily basis, which can occur up to 15-20 minutes outside of the start and end of the school day. The district will need to work with each school to ensure that sufficient coverage is available. 17
II. Other considerations Community-based after school programming One concern raised about a later high school start/end time is that it could impede some students from pursuing after-school activities (e.g., part-time jobs, internships, religious education). At the time of this study, detailed information on the types of programming and scope of participation was not available, so further exploration would be required to assess the magnitude of impact. An additional factor to consider is that STA is currently providing courtesy transportation for students to certain programs with large enough participation. Under a revised transportation model, it is possible that they would no longer have the capacity to provide these services. The district would have to determine whether it wanted to continue the practice of providing this transportation, and, if not, would have to communicate the change to the affected families. Ensuring ongoing access to expert route planning services One challenge facing Guilford is that, historically, the bus provider relied on district staff to develop bus routes, which were typically hand-drawn and not significantly updated from year-to-year. This arrangement has not resulted in the capacity to provide in-depth analysis on a regular basis to ensure optimal bus routes. Moving forward, it will be important that the district ensure that this capacity is readily available. One option which the district is currently pursuing is for the district s transportation coordinator to receive in-depth training on route design using the routing software provided by the bus company. An alternative approach would be to work with the bus company to ensure that, as a part of their contract, they provide regular consultation on route design and modeling. 18
APPENDIX Appendix A Limitations to initial projections It is important to note that the findings outlined in this report are initial estimates that will require verification and further refinement. Factors that could impact the final figures include: Cluster stop locations: To build bus routes for this study, STA selected cluster stops based on student population distribution and proximity to accessible roads; prior to implementation, each cluster stop location will need to be vetted to ensure its safety Travel time between bus runs: While STA did build in some time for buses to travel in between schools, the actual bus routes will need to be finalized before it is possible to verify that these times are accurate Morning pickup times: The initial estimates are designed to ensure that students get to school on time, but the routing software does not allow the ability to limit how early a student is picked up; as a result, some bus routes will require modifications to address pickup times that are too early to be viable, which may have a slight impact on the number of vehicles that are required Ancillary transportation services: As mentioned previously, STA currently uses its spare buses to provide out-of-district transportation as well as transportation to athletic events certain after school programming; these scenarios do not include precise projections for the number of vehicles required to provide these services, as demand varies Based on these factors, as noted in the report it is very likely that additional vehicles would need to be added to compensate for excessive ride lengths or early pick-up times. 19