Round Rock ISD Cuts School Bus Service At Subdisivions, Apartment Complex

ROUND ROCK, TX -- School district officials recently removed three bus routes from the "hazardous" routes list, meaning that the roads are now deemed safe enough for students to travel on, ending the need for buses to pick them up at their neighborhoods.

The upshot: No more school bus service at the Robinson Park subdivision to Live Oak Elementary School; Sendero Springs to to Cactus Ranch Elementary School; and Las Brisas Apartments to Caldwell Heights Elementary and Hopewell Middle schools. The Austin American-Statesman detailed the eliminated bus routes in a recent report.

In February, Round Rock ISD officials had proposed eliminating ten bus routes -- including six routes along A.W. Grimes Boulevard -- but ultimately decided to maintain that service. The district also allows for public input in assessing the need for bus routes, and public outcry at community meetings over some of the proposed cuts prompted school officials to keep the routes.

As a result of that change of course, schoolchildren living along A.W. Grimes who attend Double File Elementary, Hernandez Middle School and Stony Point High School will be able to continue riding the bus to reach their classes.

This reversal came after district officials deemed the routes as still "hazardous" to walk across.

The newspaper notes that the abundance of roads being reassessed as "hazardous" comes at a time the district is experiencing a bus driver shortage. A transportation official told the Statesman in March the district was short 17 drivers.