Bus Route Changes Give Hillsborough Parents First-Day Jitters

By Laura Frazier and Liz Bleau, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Aug. 21–Hundreds of Hillsborough County students started the first day of school Monday with new bus stops, longer walks and worried parents.

As part of its new Transportation Improvement Plan, the school district retooled bus stops and routes in parts of east and southeastern Hillsborough. Similar changes are expected across the county by next school year.

In Brandon, the changes required some students to walk up to 1 1/2 miles to new stops. In Wimauma, some routes were eliminated, forcing students to walk up to two miles to school and back home.

Maria Villegas walked with her children, Lidio, 5, and Guadalupe, 9, to Wimauma Elementary. Last year, her children rode a bus.

“There is no bus now. It’s not safe nowadays for them to walk,” she said.

Lourdes Aguira worries her daughter, Daisy, 6, and son, Jose, 10, are too young to walk on their own.

“I work, but I will walk them whenever I can,” Aguira said. She is especially edgy about her children walking during rainstorms.

District officials have said the new plan is intended to make school transportation more efficient. It calls for fewer bus stops; a minimum of 500 feet between stops instead of the 250 feet previously permitted; more stops at intersections and fewer in the middle of blocks; no fewer than two or more than 20 students assigned to each stop; and no bus runs down narrow, dead-end or one-way streets.

In Brandon, parents at a new Burns Middle School stop at John Moore Road and Hidden Lake Drive were anxious about busy traffic.

“When we told the school district we were concerned about the traffic, they told us not to worry because it quiets down after 8:30 a.m.,” parent Kenny Hawkins said.

When the 8:37 a.m. bus arrived at 8:50, 19 cars were backed up behind it, and seven others cut through nearby Windy Circle to avoid the wait.

“The new route saves about 35 seconds,” Hawkins said. “We’re not asking for a less direct route or a longer route. We just want it to be safe. Look at this traffic.”

Reporter John Ceballos contributed to this report. Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523 or lfrazier@tampatrib.com. Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com.

—–

To see more of the Tampa Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tampatrib.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.