FAQ's

• The bus goes right down my street. Why can’t the bus stop at my house? 

• I can’t see the stop from my house. Can’t the stop be closer? 

We transport over 4,000 public school students each day. It is not feasible to put all the stops in sight range. Parents must use good judgment by either going to the stop with the child or working with other families in the area to support safety.

• I would like to add a school bus stop closer to my house. What should I do? 

Additional stops will only be added for new students, recalculated routes, or unsafe conditions. Contact the Transportation Office if you feel as if there is an unsafe condition. Only conditions which are “likely to occur” will be evaluated.

• How far may a child be asked to walk to a school bus stop? 

The law allows a school district to ask a child, regardless of age, to walk up to two miles to a bus stop. This is measured by public roads and does not include any private lane or walkway of the child’s residence. In general, our goal is to have the stop within 1500 feet of the home. There are areas where stops may be longer distances from the home due to street access, or when doing so decreases the overall ride time for those being picked up first and dropped off last. Please know that we will design school bus routes to be safe and convenient to the majority of students within the limits of time and physics.

• How long may a child be required to ride on a bus? 

This is a local decision (based on geography, population distribution, etc.). There are no time limits set by law or regulations. It all depends on the proximity of your home to your selected school. A good rule of thumb is, “Determine the time that it takes you to get from your home to the school during rush hour traffic in your car, then double it.” Since we cover the entire New Castle County, we have routes that are much longer than your local school district.

• I think the road my child has to walk along is hazardous. What can I do?

The law provides for Delaware Department of Transportation to review potentially hazardous walking routes. If you believe an unsafe situation exists, address your concerns to the transportation office by calling 302-994-8544.

• Since you have non-transportation zones around schools, can I assume that my child is safe walking to the school (or those walking to bus stop location) if he or she takes the most direct or most reasonable route? 

No. It is impossible for our staff to assess the safety of every possible walking route to a bus stop or a school. Every family may have a different definition of “most direct or reasonable route”. Even more important, what is “safe” varies from child to child. It is very important that you assess your child’s maturity before permitting him or her to walk unaccompanied to school or a bus stop. Regardless of the child’s age, if the child’s behavior or maturity suggests that he or she will be unsafe without adult or other supervision, or if the parents have any concerns about the conditions on the route, parents should provide that supervision on the walking route and/or at the bus stop.

• Who is responsible for student behavior at bus stops?

The District is responsible to determine safe stop locations. Parents are responsible for their child’s behavior at the stop. If inappropriate behavior is reported to the bus driver, they will turn this information over to the school for investigation.

• Who handles discipline on the bus? 

The driver is the authority figure responsible for enforcing the safe transport rules. Bus safety rules are located in the Student/Parent Handbook and within the transportation tab on the district website. The driver can handle minor discipline problems speaking to students or reassigning seats. More serious issues are addressed at the school by either student advisors or principals. Misconduct forms may be submitted to the school by drivers. These may result in warning, reprimand, or removal from the bus. The school bus should be considered an extension of the classroom.

• What should I do if I move during the school year? 

The earlier we have this information, the better transition for you. Please give us at least 4 days to make the change. Step one is to notify the school Guidance Department of your change of address. The school will then contact the Transportation Office and notify us of the address change. We will determine the new stop location and adjust routes as needed. The new bus stop information will be returned back to the school. They will then notify you of the new stop and when it will begin. In general, we begin the new stop with the student riding in the afternoon so that they driver and the student get acquainted and accustomed to the new stop.

• There is split custody for my child. Can I get him/her assigned to two different buses? 

Yes, but we can only list one primary stop. Contact the school and the school will notify the transportation office. We will determine a secondary stop and notify the school. Both homes must be in the same school attendance area for transportation.

• Why are there only 30 students riding some buses and my child’s bus is crowded? 

Decisions regarding each bus route are made by careful planning based on information from the school registration, previous similar routes, and Department of Transportation data. Most routes are fixed during the summer months and changes are made after the first two weeks of school, if not sooner. The more current the information we are given, the better decisions regarding specific routes can be made.Distance from school, number of buses and drivers, and grouping of students and neighborhoods are factors considered also. Sometimes it is just not possible to have the exact number of students on every run. State and national guidelines allow for up to 20% over capacity seating.

• Why is my child’s bus late? 

Weather, traffic, driver absenteeism, maintenance difficulties, and unforeseen incidents are responsible for delays in the arrival of school buses in the morning and afternoon. Our buses encounter the same issues and unpredictability for morning travel as many of our parents on their way to work. In addition, since we cover the entire New Castle County, our bus routes range from 10 miles to some that are over 50 miles. The longer the route, the more susceptible they are to delays.

• • Sometimes the bus routes must be doubled out or run as a second load to or from the school due to the regular driver being absent.
  • Traffic in New Castle County is increasing.
  • Drivers check buses before their routes and sometimes find mechanical problems that can cause delays and require driving another bus for that day. This can cause the bus to be late.
  • Please know that we are doing everything humanly possible to have all buses running on schedule every day. In the event that your bus does not arrive as scheduled, please allow ten to fifteen minutes before calling the transportation office or the school.

• Why can’t we provide transportation to different pick-up or delivery locations on different buses on different days? 

According to State law, each student eligible for transportation is permitted one seat on a bus. Providing transportation to and from different locations on different days would require the assignment of multiple seats for those students.

• Why can’t my child get off wherever they want in the afternoon? 

Student code of conduct states – STUDENTS MUST RIDE THEIR ASSIGNED BUS TO AND FROM THEIR ASSIGNED STOP. SWITCHING BUSES FOR ANY REASON IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

• How are bus stops determined? 

State regulation requires that we provide safe, efficient bus routes to all eligible students in our district. We work very hard to keep bus routes less than an hour in order to do so we have to maintain routes that reduce time and mileage wherever possible. Some routes are over one hour, unfortunately with the distance we have to travel for some programs and the equipment limitations we have, we have to be creative in our approach to bus routes. Just a few of the things we consider in determining where to designate a stop are:

• • Can the bus and its warning lights be seen by other motorists at a distance of 500 feet on open roadways or 200 feet on urban streets (four seconds at typical optimal speeds)?
  • Are the students and other motorists visible to the bus driver when approaching the stop?
  • How do light conditions affect the visibility approaching the student stop? (Sun rising and setting, day light savings time change, etc.)
  • Hills and curves reduce the visibility for drivers approaching a stop or a stopped school bus. Whenever possible, we avoid designating a bus stop near a hillcrest or curve in the roadway.
  • Do surrounding buildings or foliage affect what the driver can see when approaching the stop?
  • Are there potential hazards from side streets or parking lots?
  • Is there an area for students to safely wait for the bus?
  • Is there potential shelter for students in the event of inclement weather?
  • How many students are at the stop? What are their ages?

• The bus drives right by my house; why can’t I have a house stop? 

Bus stops are established at easily identified locations accessible to students throughout a geographic area. This assures student safety, bus safety, and service reliability. Every time a school bus stops to pick up and/or drop off students, rider time on the route is increased for the deceleration, stop sequence, loading, seating, safety checks, and acceleration back into traffic flow.

Stopping at every residence along a road can be unsafe as well as an unacceptably inefficient use of resources. If we stopped at every student residence that the bus might pass by, some students would be on the bus for unacceptable lengths of time. In addition, there would be additional fuel consumption and pollution, and some other motorists would be so frequently delayed that they could begin to “take chances” to get past the bus. Problems have also been encountered with identifying the location for the stop, creating an unsafe ‘stop-and-go’ hesitancy while a new or substitute driver tries to find the address.

• Why can’t you come further into my subdivision? 

School buses come in various sizes ranging from 25 to 36 feet long, 20,000-26,000 pounds, 12-13 feet high and 6-9 feet wide. The length is what limits the school bus to be maneuvered in cul-de-sacs and tight places. Smaller buses can turn in a shorter radius, while longer buses cannot maneuver the same circle without backing the bus, which is avoided in routing if possible. Residents sometimes park trucks, boats, and trailers on the streets. Children leave their bicycles, skateboards, and basketball backboards in the street. Although our drivers are trained to be able to parallel park their buses, some subdivisions are not designed with school bus transportation in mind. Please know that we will design school bus routes to be safe and convenient to the majority of students within the limits of time and physics.

• My street has no sidewalks. Why can’t the bus pick my child up in front of my house? 

Many development streets were designed and built without sidewalks to maintain a rustic or non-urban image. When such streets were reviewed by the Delaware Department of Transportation, they were accepted as low [traffic] volume pedestrian-safe shared traffic facilities. Parents are expected to teach their children the safe and legal way to walk along the streets in their developments.

If the street is used as a “through” street or arterial, we will review traffic to determine if a bus must be assigned to pick students up along the street due to high traffic volumes causing an unsafe pedestrian situation. Most of those streets have already been identified by past traffic studies. If you believe that the traffic using your street has increased due to changes in travel patterns, please contact us and we will conduct a traffic study to assess school transportation needs.