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To: O&S Committee Date: October 12

th

, 2017

From: Bill Churchill Reviewed by:

Assistant General Manager of Administration

differentfromthoserelatedtoK‐12.ThegoalofthisreportistoprovidetheBoardwithan

understandingofthechallengesposedbyprovidingstudentswithserviceadjacenttoschools,an

ideaofhowwidespreadtheseservicesextendandhopefullythevalueofprovidingtheservices.

CountyConnectioncurrentlyprovidesserviceadjacentto44schoolsrepresentedbyninedifferent

schooldistrictsacrossitsservicearea.Theseschoolsrangefromelementaryschoolstohighschools

andincludesomecontinuationschools.PleaserefertoAttachmentAforacompletelistofschools

anddistricts.Inordertogainasystemwideperspectiveofbusroutesandschools,staffdevelopeda

servicemapwithanoverlayofschools(pleaseseeAttachmentA).Theservicemapprovidesarather

clearperspectiveofthebreadthofservicetoschoolsinCentralCountyanddemonstratesall

memberjurisdictionsreceiveasignificantlevelofservicedesignedtomeetschoolbelltimes.Routes

Staffcouldnotlocateanydocumentationthatdescribesapolicyoramethodologyforaddingschools

totheserviceplanduringtheearlydevelopmentyearsoftheAuthority,ratheritisassumedthat

servicemeetingbelltimeswasaddedorganicallyasroutesweredevelopednearschoolsandstudent

demandbecameapparent.StaffhasincludedwiththismemoanupdatedServiceExpansionPolicy

thatwasmodifiedin2000.Thispolicyprovidesguidanceforseveraltypesofserviceexpansion,

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includingservicenearschools(pleaserefertoAttachmentD).Bytheyear2000theexistingschool

Althoughpublictransitagenciesareprecludedfromoperatingdedicatedschoolbusservicethereare

waystoallowschoolchildrentousepublictransitsystems.Publictransitagenciesmaycreatespecial

“tripper”busesdesignedtomeetbelltimesofschoolssuchthatstudentscanusethesepublicbuses

togettoandfromtheirclasses.Thereacoupleofrulesthatmustbefollowedinordertolegallydo

this.Thetripperbusmustbeopenforusebythegeneralpublic,theschedulesandroutingmustbe

publishedinareasonabletimepriortooperatingtheserviceandthebusmustusestopsbranded

similarlytotherestofthebussystem.WhenprovidingschooltripperserviceCountyConnection

hasalwayscompliedwithfederalregulationsandhasnotreceivedanyfindingsthroughthefederal

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manyschoolshavecreatedmodifiedscheduleswhereoneormoredaysintheweekhaveaseparate

uniquebelltimes.Forexample,someschoolshaveanormalscheduleMonday,Tuesday,Thursday

andFridaybuthave“Late‐In”belltimesat8:30amonWednesdays.Otherschoolshaveanearlyout

at2:30pmonWednesdaysandstillothersscheduletheirLate‐In’sonMondays.Justtomakethings

evenmorecomplicatedmanyschoolsadd12:00pmearlyoutsatdifferenttimesthroughoutthe

schoolyear.OneofthemostchallengingscheduleissuesoccurredthisyearwiththeAcalanesSchool

Districtimplementingablockscheduleforalltheirhighschools.Theblockscheduleessentially

createsadifferentbelltimeforeachday.

Attemptingtoschedulepublictransitbusestomatchthisbewilderingarrayofbelltimesacrossforty

fourschoolsandremainwithinfederalguidelinesisanextremelydifficulttask.Itisalsobecoming

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thantwohours.Staffconnectsthesesmalltripperrunswithlongerstandardpiecesofworkto

maintenancecosts.

Inadditiontoschedulingchallengestherearesignificantplanninghurdlestoovercomeaswell.In

manyjurisdictionsthegeneraldirectionalflowofstudentpassengersisoppositeofthecommuter

towardMoragatoreachtheirdestinations.Simultaneously,commuterstravelintheopposite

directiontoreachOrindaBARTorthefreeway.Plannersarerequiredtofigureouthowtodividethe

givenresourcestobestfittheneedsoftwodifferentdemographicsbehavinginoppositeways.

Thesecontrastingservicedemandsoccursystemwideaddingtothecomplexityofdesigning

transportationservicestoequitablyservethecommunities.

hasoccurred;severalarelistedonAttachmentA.

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StudentRidershipStatistics

Accuratelycalculatingstudentridershiphasproventobearatherchallengingendeavor.Bus

operatorscountallpassengersboardingthebusandcategorizetheseridersintoanumberof

differentdemographiccategories.Thestudent/youthcategorywasdiscontinuedinFY16inpartto

manage.Fromafinancialperspectiveremovinghestudentdemographicwasanon‐issuesincethe

farestudentspayisthesameasadults.StaffusedridershipdatafromFY15tocalculatestudent

ridershipanddeterminedthatstudentsrepresentapproximately10%ofthetotalpassengerscarried.

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Conclusion:

significantcomponentofthetotalpassengerscarriedbyCountyConnection.Staffrecognizesthe

importanceofprovidingservicetothisdemographicandnotesthatadditionsofschoolservice

mayexacerbatetheabilitytobeefficientandmaydegradetheAuthority’sabilitytoeffectively

serveotherdemographicswithtransportationneeds.TheServiceExpansionpolicyasmodifiedin

2000providesareasonableframeworkforaddingschoolserviceinawaythatensuresthenew

serviceisproductiveandcosteffective.

Additionally,maintainingstrongrelationshipswithschoolpersonnelandcontinuingtoeducate

schoolsanddistrictsastothechallengesofusingpublictransittomoveschoolchildrenwillhelp

1) Attachment A : List of Schools and Districts

2) Attachment B : System Map Overlaid with K-12 Schools

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