Audit Says Reduce Number of Milford School Bus Stops

A transportation audit for Milford public schools recommends that the district reduce its number of bus stops, citing safety and operational efficiency reasons.

And the Milford Board of Education has asked school administration to implement this change, along with two others, according to James L. Richetelli Jr., chief operations officer for Milford public schools.

“We expect that the vast majority of students who are being transported by bus to school will continue to be transported,” Richetelli, the former mayor, wrote in a letter to parents dated Jan. 2 (click here to read in full).

“Those families whose transportation service may be changed will be notified in writing in the spring," he said, "so that there will be ample time to make necessary arrangements for the 2014-15 school year.”

Along with the recommendation to consolidate bus stops, the transportation audit also supported the creation of a voluntary “opt-out program” and steps to require more students to walk to school, as long as it’s safe to do so.

Reads the proposal on the latter: “If the traffic safety expert (the city employs) finds that no safety issue exists on the walking route, the stop and/or route may be eliminated and the students will be expected to walk to school.”

The district is required to bus elementary school students who live more than one mile from school; middle schoolers who live more than one-and-a-half miles away; and high schoolers who are more than two miles removed.

A PDF of this school year’s bus routes can be accessed here.

What do you think about the proposed changes? Could some bus stops be scrapped? Should they? Tell us in the comments.

School officials could not immediately be reached for comment.