School Bus Fees Cut Ridership Up to 50% in Some O.C. Districts

More children are missing the school bus this fall because of new or increased busing fees at nine Orange County school districts that are struggling to preserve academic programs during a budget crunch.

Ridership is down by as much as 50% in some districts, forcing officials to consider either eliminating or consolidating some bus routes.

A ruling by the state Supreme Court in March, which ended a seven-year legal battle, cleared the way for districts to charge transportation fees except for indigent or disabled students. State law allows districts to charge up to $684 per student a year in busing fees, according to district officials.

At Saddleback Valley Unified School District, ridership dropped by 45% from district projections after the cost of an annual bus pass doubled to $365 per student, district figures show. Hundreds of angry parents this semester have formed car pools rather than pay the higher fees, prompting district officials to consider consolidating or eliminating some bus routes.

“Where it hurts the most is for the parents who have to work,” said Cathy Seiders, a Cielo Vista Elementary School parent who organized a car pool with other parents in her Trabuco Canyon neighborhood. “We’re really lucky on our block. There are a ton of car pools around here. Everybody has banded together.”

Seiders said she feels bad for the parents who can’t arrange car pools and are forced to pay up to $912 a year if they have three or more children who need to ride the school bus.

About 1,775 Saddleback students have been riding the buses since school started Sept. 10, down from the estimated 3,200 who were expected to ride this year, district officials said.

“I think the economy is forcing people to look for the least expensive way to do it,” district Supt. Peter A. Hartman said.

The drop in ridership comes as no surprise to some parents.

“I haven’t really found anyone who is taking the bus,” said Cielo Vista parent Sharon Druce. “Some of them were in previous years, but they’re not any longer.”

Irvine Unified School District experienced a similar drop after raising the price of an annual bus pass to $180 from $160 and eliminating several bus routes to save more than $230,000 in transportation costs.

This forced the parents of more than 130 children in the area of the UC Irvine campus to charter their own bus at an annual cost of $30 per child in order to transport their children safely to school.

Other parents in the district have formed car pools, some are having their children use public transportation and some students are either riding their bikes or walking to school.

“We have been fortunate to come up with something, but there are many, many children left in the city walking,” said Turtle Rock Elementary School parent Laurie McPhillen, who helped make arrangements to charter the bus.

Tustin Unified School District, which never charged for busing before this semester, has also seen ridership drop by 50%. But optimistic district officials there said they are confident more parents will still purchase a $150 annual pass.

“We were allowing students to ride for free up until last Friday, so we think that more parents will be buying passes soon,” said Paul Fisher, assistant superintendent of the district’s business division.

So far this year, about 1,000 Tustin students have bought passes and are riding the bus to school compared to the 2,000 who rode last year. This has led to the elimination of seven of the district’s 22 bus routes. Officials said more routes will be added as more passes are sold.

The Capistrano Unified School District, which instituted a $180 annual fee this year, has seen a similar drop in ridership. Last year, 13,000 students rode the bus but the district has only sold 6,500 passes so far this year.

District officials said Friday that they are selling “hundreds” of passes each day and expect eventually to have sold at least 7,000 passes, which would meet their goal of recouping half of their transportation costs.

“I think parents spent the first week of school trying to find out what works best for them,” said district spokeswoman Jacqueline Price. “They need to find out if it’s realistic for them to have their child walk to school or for them to car-pool. People aren’t going to buy a pass if they find a way to easily and safely get their kid to school.”

Although less dramatic, decreases in ridership have also been reported in the other districts that charge bus fees, including, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Los Alamitos Unified, Newport-Mesa Unified and Orange Unified.

“We have seen about a 25% drop in ridership since the increase (in fees),” said Ron Murrey, business manager for the Los Alamitos Unified School District, which raised the cost of a bus pass from $140 to $252 per child.

“We’re expecting that number to go back up to what we had before, once parents look at the cost of car-pooling and compare it to the cost of busing,” Murrey added.

In the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which reinstated a busing fee of $150 per student this fall following a seven-year hiatus, ridership is down by about 30% compared to last year, although parents are continuing to buy passes on a daily basis, district transportation director Rita Finen said.

“Most of the people feel that the 83 cents per day is pretty reasonable, not that they like to pay,” Finen said. “But they understand where the district is coming from.”

The Fullerton School District, which is charging for busing for the first time, will continue giving free bus rides until Oct. 1. After that, it will cost $163 per student for an annual bus pass, said Rick Lewis, director of transportation services.

“We’ve never had a fee program before,” Lewis said. “We’d like to keep our busing service because we feel its the safest bet out there. Our fee breaks down to $1 a day, and we’ve had some parents say that their child spends more than that on junk food in one day.”

Officials at the school districts said transportation costs will likely be significantly lower for them this year because of the reduction in riders.

“Our challenge is to see that income meets expenditures,” said Saddleback Valley’s Tom Tullar, business services director. “We will have to reorganize routes a bit because of the lower numbers.”

Saddleback trustees say they are working with the Orange County Transit District to try to come up with more busing options for parents.

“We are willing to work with the parents and assist them in any we can in exploring and implementing alternative transportation arrangements,” Board President Raghu P. Mathur said.

Mathur said the school district would “love to provide free busing” but was forced to raise the fee to keep budget cuts away from the classroom.

“We are trying to protect the kids,” he said. “Our focus is the classroom.”

While many of the parents have had to rejuggle complicated morning routines in order to participate in car pools, some students don’t seem to mind missing their daily bus ride.

Sharon Druce’s 6-year-old son, Paul, said he was disappointed at first but isn’t anymore.

“I like it when I get drived to school because you don’t have to pay any money,” said Paul, a first-grader at Cielo Vista.

“It’s better than riding the bus,” said Ryan Brick, a fifth-grader at Trabuco Elementary School. “When you ride the bus, you have to get up earlier and you have to walk to the bus stop.”