Behind the Routes

Start and dismissal times are 45 minutes apart between tiers, which provides buses with enough time to ensure they reach their stops on time. 

RCPS does not provide afterschool transportation to students who attend a daycare/afterschool program that is located out of their school's attendance zone. Transportation is provided for students who attend a location that is within their school zone.

RCPS provides transportation, no matter a student’s home school, to non-profit community organizations that are official partners with RCPS. These include:

• Boys & Girls Club
• Presbyterian Community Center
• West End Center.

RCPS enters into official memorandums of understanding (MOUs) where appropriate or applicable and reserves the right to evaluate transportation services in the future.

RCPS enforces its existing walking/family responsibility zones.  The Parent Handbook states: “Students eligible for transportation may be required to walk up to one mile to reach their regular bus stop. For general education routes, RCPS works to provide shorter family responsibility zones whenever possible, as detailed below:

• Elementary: .25 miles, whenever possible
• Secondary: .6 miles
• Students with disabilities: Based on IEP

It is important to note that hub bus stops for Forest Park, Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy, and the PLATO program at Highland Park Elementary School do not follow the same family responsibility zones as students riding general education routes and the family responsibility zone may be up to one mile.

Yes, RCPS worked with Zum, and they believed the combination of the schedule change and the other efficiencies recommended, would set them up for the best opportunity for success. During interviews with prospective vendors during the Request for Proposals (RFP) process, all four companies interviewed asked whether RCPS would be open to adjusting times because the current bell times do not leave enough room for bus drivers to travel to their next route.

Howard County, Maryland is one example of how increasing the amount of time between tiers helped to alleviate their longstanding transportation concerns. Howard County began its partnership with Zum in 2023. At the start of the school year, delays initially continued due to having only 30 minutes between routes. After Howard County modified its bell schedule, Zum has achieved nearly 100% on-time pickups on its 250 routes, serving around 20,000 students daily.

After one year of partnering with RCPS, Zum has averaged an on-time arrival rate of 98%!

As Mr. Perkins outlines in the video, some attendance zones are very difficult logistically to navigate for student pick-up. This must be considered when deciding which tier they will be on. Longer routes need to be in the first tier, as it provides additional time to pick up all students. This includes PLATO routes for Highland and Fairview. We must also consider balancing the number of students who utilize transportation, so there must be a mix of large schools and small schools on each route. 

Finally, for efficiency, Tier 2 schools need to position buses in the best locations to provide service for students riding the bus to and from either William Fleming or Patrick Henry. Therefore, we need to be able to have as many buses as we can closer to our high schools to begin transportation for tier three.

Generally, by geographically aligning routes in Tier 1 and Tier 2, bus drivers can more easily reach their next location and end up closer to their routes for Tiers 3 and 4.

During the 2023-2024 school year, the earliest pick-up time was 6:10 a.m. During the 2022-2023 school year, elementary students were picked up as early as 5:45 a.m. In the most recent 2024-2025 school year, the earliest elementary school pick up time was at 6:20 a.m., signifcantly later than previous years. It is important to note that given the time the sun rises, students have always gotten on the bus before sunrise at certain times of the year.

Based on feedback and with the School Board's approval, “alternative service routes” were created starting in the 2024-25 school year for students who attend the following programs outside of their school zone: Forest Park Academy and Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy. For the 2026-27 school year, the PLATO gifted program at Highland Park Elementary School will also use alternative service routes.

These routes created centralized hub bus stops in a student’s neighborhood for greater transportation efficiency. Bus stops have been aligned with the current family responsibility zones, or walking zones, and do not require students to travel more than one mile to reach the bus stop. Per the Code of Virginia and the RCPS Parent Handbook, students eligible for transportation may be required to walk up to one mile to reach their regular bus stop.

RCPS surveyed families in February 2024 about potential transportation changes, to guage families' opinions regarding multiple potential options. The survey was designed to help understand the views of the public when creating the proposed recommendations. At the time of the survey, specific recommendations had not been formulated.

For example, it was very clear from the survey that potentially having middle and high school students ride the bus together was very unpopular. As a result, this recommendation was not included in the initial recommendations.

RCPS has at least 115 bus routes. It is advisable post-pandemic to allow for at least 20 substitute bus drivers, given the absenteeism rate seen in the transportation industry.

Family Responsibility Zones are the areas where parents are required to determine transportation for their child(ren). It may mean the child walks to school or is driven by a family member or friend.