
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994                   TAG: 9403240019
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: by RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD LOOKS AT TURNING BUSES OVER TO SCHOOLS

School children here would no longer have to fumble for small change or bus tickets under a City Council proposal to get the city out of the school bus business. The city asked school officials Monday to take the wheel instead.

School officials and council agreed to cooperate in surveying parents of school-age youngsters to see what they think about the possible switch to a bus system run by the schools.

Under an unusual, long-standing arrangement, youngsters pay 20 cents each way to ride a city-run transit bus to school. Discount tickets are available for 17 cents. About 475 pupils now take advantage of the system.

If fares were dropped and the School Board took over the transportation system, ridership could double, predicted Superintendent Michael Wright.

Wright suggested the city invite the Department of Education to visit Radford to assess the present system and to determine what it would take to bring it up to state guidelines.

The suggestion for the switch is not a new one. "I hate to quote Yogi Berra in front of the School Board, but it's deja vu all over again," Wright said, noting that the city last considered the idea in 1983. No action was taken because the plan was deemed too expensive, he said.

The city-run system no longer is eligible for state school transportation subsidies after this year. A bus system run by the School Board could expect $90 to $100 per rider each year, Wright said.

But, there's still no free ride for the city, he told council.

"This is an expensive service and it will get bigger and bigger and bigger every year," he said. "I'm not saying we shouldn't [take it over], just that we should plan for it."

Wright estimated the city would have to put up $30 to $60 per rider of its own money each year.

City officials complained the city gets caught in the middle when students are disciplined for misbehaving on the bus. Mayor Tom Starnes - who put the question to school officials during a budget work session - said having the city's schools take over the buses "would simplify the situation."

"We may come out ahead," said City Manager Robert Asbury.

Right now, the city runs four buses to carry kids to school. City Engineer Jim Hurt, whose department operates the buses, said ridership has gone up 5 percent a year over the past four years.

"We're within ten seats of capacity right now," he said.

Wright said state standards for a pupil transportation system run by the school division would be more stringent than for the city-run system and would likely require additional buses, perhaps twice as many.

by CNB