Higher fuel prices will mean longer routes and more crowded school buses for some Howard County students in the coming school year.

The county was hoping to run 425 buses, but has trimmed the number to 420 to save money, said David Drown, transportation director for the Howard County public schools.

Because of the cuts, some buses will be more crowded and some bus rides will take up to 10 minutes longer than last year, Drown said.

He was not able to estimate how many students will be affected by the change, but said it would be a small amount. The changes "will be pretty much invisible to most folks," he said.

Removing the five buses -- three regular education buses and two special education buses -- will save the county about $340,000, he said.

Based on surveys conducted by the transportation department, diesel fuel cost $4.77 per gallon in July of this year, up from $3.04 per gallon in September 2007, said David Ramsay, a supervisor for the transportation office. Diesel prices have not changed much since July, Drown said, and a gallon of diesel now costs $1.40 more on the East Coast than it did last year, according to the Energy Information Administration, which tracks regional fuel prices.

Drown said the longer rides will be experienced mainly by students in the western part of the county. The county schools now have a 45-minute cap on bus rides, but the limit probably will be extended to 50 to 55 minutes, he said.

In the eastern part of the county, meanwhile, some buses will be more crowded, with some students being forced to share a seat with two students instead of one, he said.

"We're trying to spread the misery the best we can," Drown said jokingly.

Even though the ride may be more inconvenient than last year for some students, Drown said he expects more students to take buses to school this year, as parents and students worry about the high price of gasoline.

About 40,000 students in the county are eligible to ride a bus to school, he said.

Filling the buses

Michael Bowen, owner of Bowen's Bus Service, which has a contract with the county to operate 48 school buses, said the changes will help fill buses that have been operating at less-than full capacity.

"Instead of adding buses, they want to fill up the ones they have," Bowen said. He said some buses in the past, designed to accommodate from 64 to 90 students, only had 10 students riding in them, and drivers often would be scheduled for routes up to an hour apart, forcing drivers to wait. With the decrease in the number of buses, the remaining drivers can use the time more efficiently, he said.

"Basically they are already paying us to sit there," Bowen said. "We might as well be used for the additional mileage."

Although the school system's athletics department also is feeling the crunch of rising fuel prices, Mike Williams, coordinator of athletics for the county's public school system, said the department has no plans to change its transportation this year.

But next year could be a different story. Williams said the department is considering several options for saving money on fuel, including requiring teams to limit away games to half of their schedule and eliminating regular-season games with schools outside the county.

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user comments (1)

user momto2 says...

Take a look at the Western County bus routes. One route starts at 6:27 for a 7:25 drop off. That's significantly over the old 45 minute cap. That's too long for a child to ride a bus. Western County citizens pay taxes, often times more than other parts of the county. Old schools and long bus rides are not acceptable.

Posted 3:06 PM, 08.22.08

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