Getting children to school isn’t a one way street.
The Sooke School District, in conjunction with partners including B.C. Transit, the Capital Regional District and West Shore municipalities, is hosting a meeting next Tuesday (Jan. 19) that aims to inform parents of the different transportation options for getting their children safely to and from school, and toss around new ideas.
“What we are trying to do is take a holistic view at student transportation,” said SD62 secretary treasurer Harold Cull. “A lot of parents look at the school bus system as the only way to transport their kids to and from school, other than to do it themselves. School busing is not mandated at all, we’re lucky we can provide (it).”
Cull hopes to discuss potential park-and-ride options for carpoolers to help get students to and from school, among other options parents may bring to the table.
While the mostly urban Greater Victoria School District has no busing system, the Saanich district charges approximately $300 per year per student, compared to SD62’s $175, which went up $25 from last year.
Representatives from the Hub for Active School Travel (HASTe), area municipalities and the CRD will also be present at the forum, which includes round table discussions, information sessions and a question and answer period for parents.
“We don’t expect to decrease our ridership; we continue to grow as a district. All things being relative, our ridership will continue to increase,” Cull said. “We may have some people finding alternative ways to get them to school. We just want to make sure we are identifying the best options for parents.”
The District’s busing budget is $1.9 million a year, and Cull said the $175 fee charged to the approximately 2,400 students in SD62 covers roughly 20 per cent of the total cost. Families in financial difficulty can be exempted from the fee, and those exemptions make up approximately 12 per cent of ridership.
The District currently has 34 buses, but that number is going up, thanks to the board’s approval to purchase four new buses. As of Jan. 4, there are 28 routes in play.
Cull said he hopes parents at the meeting will open up a dialogue on different options the District may not have thought of yet.
“We want to raise awareness,” he said. “On the operations side, we need to make decisions and there are competing priorities for that funding. It’s a high priority in the district to make sure our kids get to and from school safely, but we don’t have unlimited funds, so let’s have a bigger conversation with other stakeholders in the sector.”
The forum takes place at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19 at Royal Bay secondary.
alim@goldstreamgazette.com
