School District Sends Out Information for Bus Riders

The Los Angeles Unified School District has mailed to parents blue-and-white packets of information for students using district transportation for the fall semester, including school bus safety regulations and bus passes.

The material should arrive in mailboxes in several days.

Parents who do not receive the information by Aug. 30 can call the district’s transportation branch at (800) LA-BUSES [522-8737].

The packets, written in English and Spanish, include safety regulations and specific route numbers so students can identify themselves to bus drivers, as well as telephone numbers for the bus supervisor of the receiving school and the central bus dispatch office.

District officials advised parents to read the material carefully, because of possible changes between this year’s and last year’s bus stop locations and times.

In the 1999-2000 school year, officials estimate, the district will transport 65,000 students daily, one of the largest school-bus operations nationwide.

School-bus drivers must pass strict state and district training requirements to be certified.

All buses undergo regular safety inspections.

District buses and those owned by charter companies under contract to the district travel an estimated 37 million miles annually.