LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After changes to Jefferson County Public Schools' transportation plans earlier this year, parents and neighbors are working to adjust ahead of a new school year.
In April, the Jefferson County Board of Education voted to cut transportation to all magnet and traditional schools, which impacts more than 14,000 students. The board voted to add exceptions for Central High School and Western High School students because both schools have more than 75% of students on free or reduced lunch.
Because of the changes, schools like Barret Traditional Middle School will no longer have buses, so JCPS is adding more lines in parking lots to eliminate backups in neighborhoods as more parents opt to pick up their kids.
"Parents used to be able to park in that lot over there and kids would walk through," said Travis Newman.
Newman lives near Barret in Crescent Hill. He said in recent years navigating morning and afternoon traffic has been a challenge.
"They had to make a change and ended up leading to a kind of a fair amount of traffic going both ways," Newman said. "On this street for pickup and long backups and waits."
The ongoing bus driver shortage could mean long car-rider lines and traffic jams at schools and in neighborhoods across the city.
"We'd had a conversation with the principal over there, and they recognized the traffic problem," Newman said.
For the last several years, JCPS has struggled to recruit enough bus drivers, resulting in buses running delayed, up to several hours.
In attempt to resolve the problem, JCPS changed from just two to nine start times, and partnered with out of state routing company AlphaRoute to maximize transportation with its limited drivers.
However, the first day of school with new start times and bus routes, proved to be disastrous for the district. The first day was plagued with bus delays in the morning and the afternoon. Some students' buses never showed up that morning, and others didn't get dropped off from school that evening until almost 10 p.m.
In Feb. 2024, JCPS said it has 558 drivers, 563 routes, and averages 52 drivers absent daily. That leaves 57 routes uncovered daily.
Earlier this year, the district projected by July 2024, it will have 526 drivers. Assuming it averages the same number of drivers out daily, JCPS wants to have 474 or less routes a day, to ensure routes are covered by drivers.
JCPS eliminated bus transportation at most magnet and traditional schools as a solution.
"Obviously one of the big concerns with our transportation changes is our traffic patterns at school," said Rob Fulk, chief of operations for JCPS.
JCPS has spent the summer adding stripes and creating new traffic patterns at schools impacted by the changes.
"If you look over here at Barret, we've taken the old bus lines and created car rider lines where they can stack approximately 60 to 70 cars to keep them off the main thoroughfare around the school," Fulk said.
Fulk said before getting started on the updates, JCPS got feedback from traffic experts, parents, neighbors and Louisville Metro Council for areas that are outside school boundaries.
"We've always worked well with Metro Government and tried to keep them abreast of areas where we see potential pain points," Fulk said.
Newman doesn't like traffic delays, but he appreciated the transparency.
"They've been very, very responsive and recognize the issues and I'm glad that they're trying to cake care of that."
More JCPS Transportation Coverage:
- JCPS board of education to vote on new transportation plan during special meeting Wednesday
- JCPS board of education tables vote on new transportation plan as it discusses audit results
- JCPS board chair concerned about access to magnet schools if buses cut
- JCPS transportation lead questions results of district audit as revamped busing plan sits on hold
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