CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools is rerouting yellow bus service for about 11,000 students two weeks into the school year following complaints from parents about ineffective bus service.
In a statement Friday, CPS blamed higher than expected enrollment and increased demand for yellow bus service for the need to reroute buses.
The new routes take effect Tuesday.
Students assigned to a new route were given information on Thursday and Friday to take home, the district said. The new route information will also be posted in students’ PowerSchool accounts beginning Saturday.
The action followed complaints from about a dozen parents at a school board meeting Monday. WCPO reported that parents complained that the district’s bus service is unreliable, overcrowded and unsafe. One mother said the bus system twice lost her children, ages 7 and 5, since the school year started on Aug. 19.
The district transports 40,000 students attending CPS, parochial and charter schools throughout the 91-square-mile district, the CPS statement said.
Enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year is 640 students more than projected, the district said.
CPS had to change routes earlier this month after hundreds of people changed their registration or enrollment past the deadline, a CPS spokesperson told WCPO this week.
CPS said it provides yellow bus service for non-high school students who live a mile or more from their school. The district contracts with seven bus service providers, including Metro. Metro provides bus service to high schoolers who live more than a mile and a quarter from their school.
Questions can be directed to the Pupil Transportation Hotline at (513) 363-9700 during normal business hours.
