Tulsa Schools new bus plan and how it worked

Tuesday was the first real test of Tulsa Public School's new central bus stop system. <br><br>The district eliminated 50 buses and their routes over the summer to save almost half a million dollars.

Tuesday, September 3rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tuesday was the first real test of Tulsa Public School's new central bus stop system.

The district eliminated 50 buses and their routes over the summer to save almost half a million dollars. The buses rolled out and students hit the beaten path, but some parents are concerned the savings have come at the expense of safety.

Susan Fair, concerned parent: "These kids either have to cross four lanes of Mingo or they've got to cross four lanes of Admiral at the traffic circle." For Susan Fair, it's not the new bus system that's got her worried. It's getting to the bus. "When we send them to public school we expect the situation to be safe and this is not safe."

Walking a mile in her son's shoes, you can understand her concerns. For most of the way, there are no sidewalks, just a gravel shoulder. It's something of an obstacle course to get to school, across an on-ramp, under the highway, and then around the traffic circle. "If you mix pedestrians and you mix children pedestrians in with people that do not know how to drive the traffic circle we're gonna have some children get killed.â€ The road to school was pretty smooth Tuesday morning, there were a few communication problems, but school officials say theyâ€™re fewer complaints than last year at this time.

Some kids walked in groups, their parents escorted some, and many were dropped off early, leaving kids waiting up to an hour without supervision. But some say getting the new system to work in the afternoons will be more difficult. That's because fewer parents are able to walk or pick their kids up. And more children are out on the streets.

Lee Shafer, concerned parent: "well my next door neighbor and I are going to try and work that out where I take his kids to school and he's gonna pick mine up." Lee Shafer joined many other parents in driving his two girls to school. He's got a plan for now, but he's not happy with the new system. "I think we need to bring the buses back there's got to be other areas that we can trim lets not put the kids at risk."

According to state law, public schools do not have to provide bus service, except for special education. Tulsa School officials say there maybe a silver lining to the budget crunch. Teachers say with more people taking their kids to school, theyâ€™re meeting parents they've never seen before.