XTRA routes to get thousands of Cincinnati Public Schools students to school will not be restored prior to the start of the school year, SORTA and CPS board representatives decided Tuesday.Officials said XTRA routes will not be restored due to a bus driver shortage.SORTA recently announced the elimination of the XTRA routes that thousands of CPS students rely on to get to and from school. In their place, thousands of CPS students would need to utilize regular Metro routes.CPS officials arranged a private meeting with the SORTA board and CEO Tuesday afternoon to discuss safety concerns.School board member Eve Bolton said some of the biggest concerns with SORTA's proposal are huge dismals of hundreds of high school students at a time and pedestrian safety as they all would need to walk and catch buses.During Monday's board meeting, CPS officials announced that Interim Superintendent Tianay Amat wrote a letter to the city manager and police chief asking for them to advocate on the school district's behalf."CPS remains unclear about how Metro will handle dismissal when hundreds of students from any given high school try to 'catch' the next available regular bus versus the efficiency of having an XTRA route waiting for them," the letter reads. "This isn't safe for students, riders from the neighborhood trying to catch the bus, or Cincinnati drivers.Among the concerns Amat listed were overcrowding on buses and at bus stops, health concerns with the delta variant, pedestrian safety and young students transferring between city buses to get to school. CPS estimates that 58 percent of 7th and 8th graders who utilize buses would need to make a transfer under the system proposed by SORTA.In SORTA and CPS's joint statement released Tuesday, the pair stated: "Both organizations are committed to student safety. As a result, a working group will be pulled together to conduct a school-by-school review and consider adjustments that may need to be made before Aug. 19."
XTRA routes to get thousands of Cincinnati Public Schools students to school will not be restored prior to the start of the school year, SORTA and CPS board representatives decided Tuesday.
Officials said XTRA routes will not be restored due to a bus driver shortage.
SORTA recently announced the elimination of the XTRA routes that thousands of CPS students rely on to get to and from school. In their place, thousands of CPS students would need to utilize regular Metro routes.
CPS officials arranged a private meeting with the SORTA board and CEO Tuesday afternoon to discuss safety concerns.
School board member Eve Bolton said some of the biggest concerns with SORTA's proposal are huge dismals of hundreds of high school students at a time and pedestrian safety as they all would need to walk and catch buses.
During Monday's board meeting, CPS officials announced that Interim Superintendent Tianay Amat wrote a letter to the city manager and police chief asking for them to advocate on the school district's behalf.
"CPS remains unclear about how Metro will handle dismissal when hundreds of students from any given high school try to 'catch' the next available regular bus versus the efficiency of having an XTRA route waiting for them," the letter reads. "This isn't safe for students, riders from the neighborhood trying to catch the bus, or Cincinnati drivers.
Among the concerns Amat listed were overcrowding on buses and at bus stops, health concerns with the delta variant, pedestrian safety and young students transferring between city buses to get to school. CPS estimates that 58 percent of 7th and 8th graders who utilize buses would need to make a transfer under the system proposed by SORTA.
In SORTA and CPS's joint statement released Tuesday, the pair stated: "Both organizations are committed to student safety. As a result, a working group will be pulled together to conduct a school-by-school review and consider adjustments that may need to be made before Aug. 19."
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