Busing
Over 60% of our students come to school and go home each day by bus. Many of the rest come to school in personal vehicles and a few arrive by walking and biking. Our wish is that many of our students would get here using human power. However, we realize that buses can transport up to 60 children each and are generally more fuel efficient at transporting many people than cars, vans and trucks. The community has come to expect busing availability and we do the best we can to make busing go smoothly.
Transportation Data
For a number of years now our school has wanted to get some kind of idea of how students come to school. Do they walk/bike, bus or take a family vehicle? In the 2018/2019 school year the Voyagers learning community kindly tabulated the results teachers collected from learning communities at breakfast time. Each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, students were asked to raise their hands to indicate the method of transport they used to come to school. Generally speaking, about 12% of students walked or biked, 62% rode the bus, and 26% rode in a family vehicle.
The data has limitations. It applies primarily to grades 1-8. The Pre-K and Kindergarteners almost all rode the buses or come in a family vehicle according to their teachers. Fourth through 8th graders accounted for the majority of daily walkers and bikers.
The data has limitations. It applies primarily to grades 1-8. The Pre-K and Kindergarteners almost all rode the buses or come in a family vehicle according to their teachers. Fourth through 8th graders accounted for the majority of daily walkers and bikers.
Comparison with older transportation data - bus ridership has increased in recent years
In March 2016, Team Triumph kindly conducted a one-week transportation tally (on a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) of roughly 550 1st-8th graders. Selected students and one teacher stood in front of the school and tallied the way each student arrived at school. Bus ridership was determined by placing a camera at the bus unloading area. Later each day an exact tally of the bus riders was made from the video footage. They observed that about 15% of students arrived by foot, bike, scooter or roller skates, half the students came by bus, and 36% came by car.
The apparent increase in bus ridership in the intervening two years may be due to a change busing schedule. Previously students arrived at two different times; 7:30 and 8:30 am. Now all the buses and students arrive at the same time; 7:30 am. Previously buses were not "full" when arriving at school. They were definitely packed during the 2018/2019 school year. 10 buses were used to transport the 1st-8th graders each day.
The apparent increase in bus ridership in the intervening two years may be due to a change busing schedule. Previously students arrived at two different times; 7:30 and 8:30 am. Now all the buses and students arrive at the same time; 7:30 am. Previously buses were not "full" when arriving at school. They were definitely packed during the 2018/2019 school year. 10 buses were used to transport the 1st-8th graders each day.