ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Like scores of Roanoke students, eighth-grader Orren Prunty has a new school bus stop this year.
A year ago, Prunty caught the bus in the middle of the block on Guernsey Lane where he lives in Northwest Roanoke. Now he has to walk to a bus stop at the corner of Guernsey and Garstland Drive.
The stop on Guernsey was eliminated when city schools began using a computerized system for bus stops, schedules and routes.
The idea was to streamline the routes, which resulted in the elimination of some stops and the moving of others. The plan is projected to save the schools up to $150,000 a year in transportation costs.
At Guernsey and Garstland, Prunty and five other Ruffner Middle School students talked and joked as they waited for Bus 33 at a little past 7 one morning this week.
The students said they had no complaints about the new system.
"Now they've got one stop where we used to have two, but it's still not far to walk," Prunty said. "It didn't cause any problem."
At the corner of Angus Road and Appleton Avenue, Aisha Majiede, an eighth-grader at Ruffner Middle, said she has to walk less than a block to reach her bus stop.
"It's OK. I don't have to walk far," Majiede said
In the nearby Northwood subdivision off Peters Creek Road, some students have to walk two blocks to their bus stop, but they seem to be taking it in stride.
Bus 8 makes four stops on Laura Road within six blocks. Students who live on side streets have to walk to Laura to catch the bus.
With the computerized system, students are required to walk no farther than one-quarter of a mile to catch a bus except in unusual situations, said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations.
Using a computer, school officials can easily determine where all students live and the most efficient route for picking them up, he said.
"We've made a few adjustments [since school opened], but we've had few complaints," Kelley said.
The computerized system is being used for middle schools. It will be expanded next year to include routes and stops for elementary and high schools, Kelley said.
Roanoke faces higher transportation expenses than many localities because it provides special bus services to take children to the city's magnet schools and transport others to achieve more racial balance in schools, Kelley said.
"This requires more buses and involves almost door-to-door service in some cases," he said. Many children must be transported out of the attendance zones for their home schools to magnet schools or other schools.
Some children travel across the city to attend magnet schools. Some students from South Roanoke, for instance, are transported to William Fleming High for its magnet program. "The magnet service is expensive, because we have to provide special shuttle buses between some schools," Kelley said.
Some elementary children are transported from predominantly black neighborhoods in Northwest Roanoke to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods in Southwest to help improve the racial balance.
Roanoke has a large number of special education children who require special transportation, too, Kelley said.
In addition, the city has faced higher transportation expenses in recent years because at least one school has been closed each year for renovation, with the children having to be bused to schools in other neighborhoods. Wasena Elementary was closed two years ago, and Jackson Middle was closed last year. Breckinridge Middle is closed this year.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff: School bus costs. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB