To improve budget sustainability, HISD cut 85 bus routes between June and July, greatly impacting students in the School Choice program.
The change marked a 17 percent decrease in the number of bus routes from the prior year, when HISD ran 508 bus routes. Students enrolled in the School Choice program are allowed to attend a school other than the one they are regionally zoned to. However, students with this arrangement may have to travel much farther to get to their bus stops and commute to school than if they attended their zoned school.
“We went from 13 buses last year to 7 buses this year … the bus cut has definitely impacted many schools, ours included,” said CVHS’s HISD transportation coordinator, Lamia Moumni.
In the past, HISD has spent over $50 million annually to transport students to around 9,000 schools across the greater Houston area. But the additional logistics with school choice students, HISD argues, “is not sustainable.”
CVHS’s lack of an attendance boundary means that current students come from all across HISD. Because of this, students’ ability to access buses in a safe and timely manner becomes a frequent struggle.
“Specifically, it’s very frustrating because you [have] to share a seat with a lot of people … you [share] a two person seat with three people. And also we [have] to, like, run to the bus to get a seat, because the buses start getting people on at four o’clock, and already at 4:02 p.m. it’s already jam packed,” said CVHS sophomore Mia Lopez, who takes the bus to and from school daily.
This overcrowding on buses contrasts with the majority of the Greater Houston area, in which “over 9 out of 10” Houstonians own one or more vehicles. But those without a vehicle have to rely on public transportation, including HISD students who have to rely on the district buses to arrive at school on time.
When asked about the HISD bus cuts, CVHS junior Deniz Kahram said “[HISD] increased the mileage radius on the zone, because my stop used to be two miles away, but now it’s three miles, so it’s picking up more students.”
Indeed, new district policy stipulates that “Students may now have to walk up to three miles to their bus stop. HISD estimated that the change will reduce the average student ride time by about 30 minutes.” However, due to this increased radius, it may take students longer to travel to their stop, increasing the total time it will take students to make the full commute to and from school.
As students adjust to these changes, opinions remain divided on whether this decision is balanced between efficiency and convenience. “It depends on how you look at it. You must understand… they wanted to work within their budget … but whether the new changes are reasonable, there will always be people who complain, even students who don’t go to their zoned school and know they will have to travel farther for their school of choice,” said Moumni.
Despite explanations from HISD that the cuts in bus routes are necessary to maintain the efficiency of their budget, many students and families remain dissatisfied. Students have frequently voiced concerns about the potential impacts of this decision on accessibility, leaving many to wonder whether discussions surrounding this topic will continue to grow or eventually subside.
