Students Face Longer Walk To Bus Stop

More Tulsa Public School students could be pounding the pavement next year.  The Tulsa School Board voted on Monday night to trim bus routes to save almost $1 million.  The News On 6's Ashli Sims reports the cutbacks mean middle and high school students will walk half-a-mile more to school or bus stops.

Gas prices are strangling household budgets.  And, diesel prices are having the same effect at Tulsa Public Schools.

The district's fuel bill has doubled to $2 million in the last four years.  So, the district is putting the brakes on several bus programs.

The biggest one is an increase to the walk zones, that's the distance TPS students have to walk to either a school campus or a bus stop.  Right now, students have to walk at least a mile and a half.  Now, middle and high school students will have to walk two miles.  There will be no change for elementary students. Transportation officials say that cutback alone will save nearly $850,000. 

The district also considered cutting evening activity routes that pick up students who participate in extra-curricular programs, but when several parents spoke out against the idea, the school board took the issue off of the agenda. TPS is, though, ending door to door service for Project Accept students. 

In all, the cuts add up to approximately $900,000 in savings.