YORBA LINDA : School District Drops 2 Bus Stops

Street improvements have made the walk to school safe enough to drop two bus stops for Mabel Paine Elementary School, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Education has decided.

The board voted to eliminate stops at Oriente Drive and Ohio Street, and Avocado Avenue and Sycamore Circle, after the city of Yorba Linda put in walkways and curbs along those streets.

Vince Ellingson, director of transportation for the district, said about eight students were picked up at the two bus stops.

Although students who used them were within the legal walking distance from the school, the district had added the stops because of parents’ concerns about their children walking in the street.

Although Ellingson recommended ending service at six more bus stops serving two other elementary schools, the board decided last week to keep the stops.

To save money, Ellingson had recommended eliminating two Rio Vista Elementary School stops used by about 80 students, and four Linda Vista stops serving about 20 children.

The six stops are all within the district-recommended walking distance, Ellingson said. “Pedestrian traffic conditions are not the district’s responsibility,” he said.

The board voted to continue service to the stops because of a lack of safe walking routes, officials said.

Rio Vista students would have to walk along a stretch of La Palma Avenue that lacks sidewalks, and Linda Vista students would have to cross Yorba Linda Boulevard as well as walk on streets without sidewalks.

The board’s action on the Mabel Paine Elementary School bus stops brings the total number of stops eliminated since last September to 24.

About 200 students have been affected, all in Yorba Linda. Ellingson estimated annual savings to be $70,000.