Charlottesville announces end to waitlist for pupil transportation

One of the biggest transportation issues of the past two years has been a shortage of people willing to work as drivers for buses that take pupils to public school. 

In Charlottesville, City Councilors were told in July 2022 that as many as 750 students might have to walk to their schools, prompting an effort to make pathways from homes to classrooms safer. Throughout that school year, drivers were also given a pay increase, an increase that also applied to Charlottesville Area Transit employees. 

Yet as the fall semester of 2023 approached, there was still a long waitlist of about 700 students. This morning, the City of Charlottesville has announced that there are no longer names on that list due to a rerouting of the system that went into place when students went back to school last week.

“As of January 2, the final 250 waitlisted students became bus riders, bringing the total number of Charlottesville students on buses to 1,827,” reads a press release. 

There are 17 full-time school bus drivers, two staff members at elementary schools also trained as drivers, and three van drivers. The release states that this means drivers may soon be available for field trips again. 

“School transportation is one of the bedrocks of student success, and I am so grateful for the hard work of our team and our partners at the City that got us to this point,” said Kim Powell, Chief Operations Officer for Charlottesville City Schools. 

Students who are within walk-zones are not eligible for a ride. The press release also refers to these as “family responsibility zone” which are defined as such: 

“Charlottesville City Schools’ walk zones are about 0.75 miles for the elementary schools (up to a 20-minute walk) and 1.25+ miles for grades 5-12 (up to a 30-minute walk). These radiuses are on the short end of regional and national averages. This year, about 1,100 students are in the walk zone for their school.”

There are 4,508 students currently enrolled in city schools.

For more information on the city’s pupil transportation system, take a look at the relevant page on the Charlottesville City Schools’ website.

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