No more student Metro buses: SORTA and CPS leadership release joint statement
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) will not restore its "Xtra" Metro bus routes that used to serve Cincinnati students for the upcoming school year, the transit authority announced Tuesday in a joint statement with Cincinnati Public Schools.
Leadership from both institutions met Tuesday afternoon to discuss a safe solution to getting students to and from school despite the transit authority's driver shortage.
"Both organizations are committed to student safety. As a result, a working group will be pulled together to conduct a school by school review and consider adjustments that may need to be made before August 19," Tuesday's joint statement reads. The full statement can be found at the end of this story.
The school district and its supporters have voiced many safety concerns about the transit authority's solution, which involves giving regular bus passes to students.
"I'm in full support of however you are going to fight this and I will be there with you however you go about it," Cincinnati Federation of Teachers president Julie Sellers said to the school board during Monday night's school board meeting. She encouraged parents and students to call the transit authority to express their concerns.
The transit authority released new bus routes in late July that eliminated specific "Xtra" Metro bus routes that served mostly CPS students. It claimed CPS had been privy to those plans, and had even been involved in those discussions. But some district school board members were surprised by the new plan when it was announced. The district then put its transportation department leader, Loren Johnson, on administrative leave after officials said Johnson made decisions without involving CPS senior administration or the board. A human resources investigation is underway.
"It is unfair to expect schools, students and families to have full awareness of, much less understand, such an abrupt change announced only a few weeks prior to the beginning of school. It has resulted in chaos," board member Eve Bolton wrote in a letter on behalf of CPS to transit authority board chair Kreg Keesee on Thursday.
CPS interim superintendent Tianay Amat also sent a letter on Monday, to Cincinnati City Manager Paula Muething and Police Chief Eliot Isaac, requesting their advocacy to restore Metro's previous Xtra bus routes for students.
More than 13,000 preteens and teens rely on Metro to get to and from school, Amat wrote. She said the district hopes to meet with transit officials soon "with a goal of restoring Xtra routes before the start of school." CPS's first day of school is Aug. 19.
"While CPS understands that some students will have fewer transfers, the reality is that thousands of students who otherwise would have had direct transportation will now have to transfer each morning and afternoon," Amat wrote. She said 58% of the district's seventh- and eighth-grade bus riders would be required to make a bus transfer under the new plan.
Amat also listed safety concerns regarding the delta variant of COVID-19, the large number of students who would wait unsupervised for the regular Metro buses at school dismissal if SORTA's plan were to be realized and overcrowding on Metro's regular routes.
The transit authority held a public information meeting on Thursday and maintained that the new plan would be beneficial for students and families. Xtra bus routes were often skipped last spring – as frequently as 300 times a month – due to the transit authority's driver shortage, transit officials said. The new routes were created by carefully looking at Cincinnati student bus rider addresses and plotting out the most convenient stops.
The Metro debacle does not affect the school district's yellow bus routes, officials said. Those schedules have been finalized and families should receive a memo this week.
Full joint statement from CPS and SORTA:
SORTA and CPS board representatives and top executives met today to discuss next steps for high school transportation. Due to a bus driver shortage, XTRA routes will not be restored prior to the start of school. However, both organizations are committed to student safety. As a result, a working group will be pulled together to conduct a school by school review and consider adjustments that may need to be made before August 19.