St. Louis cuts bus service for more than 1,000 students

ST. LOUIS — More than 1,000 St. Louis high school students will have to catch a MetroBus to get to their first class by 7:15 a.m. next month.

The St. Louis Public Schools Board approved an emergency transportation plan Tuesday that aims to reduce the number of school bus routes by one-third by 2024-25. High school students living near Grand Boulevard or Kingshighway would switch from school buses to city buses.

“We know this won’t be easy for everyone. Change never is. But working as a community will allow us to take the first steps toward a sustainable transportation plan we can all be proud of,” Square Watson, SLPS’s chief operating officer, wrote to parents Wednesday.

The district lost its contract with its main transportation provider, Missouri Central, this summer. The bus company had been using a fleet of 228 vehicles — 181 conventional yellow buses and 47 short buses — to serve 14,000 eligible students.

For the upcoming school year, SLPS expects to receive 75 to 90 yellow buses and an unknown number of smaller vehicles from multiple transportation providers. Most of the 19 companies that have contracted with SLPS operate shuttle buses, minivans or ride-sharing apps for private cars. The cars and drivers do not have to meet state standards for school buses, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In addition to MetroBus passes, the five-point strategy to compensate for the loss of buses will also include new bell times, more parent drivers, fewer bus stops and more 10-passenger vans. More details, including bus stops and routes, will be released next month ahead of the start of school on Aug. 19.

Bells will be moved forward or back five to 50 minutes at each school site under the plan to create three tiers of schedules: 7:15 a.m. to 2:12 p.m. at most high schools and middle schools, 8:20 a.m. to 3:17 p.m. at some middle schools and half of elementary schools, and 9:25 a.m. to 4:22 p.m. at the remaining elementary schools.

The biggest changes were made at three high schools — Roosevelt, Sumner and Vashon — whose start time was moved from 8:05 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. and end time from 3:02 p.m. to 2:12 p.m. The proposal released before Tuesday’s meeting included the earlier change at Collegiate, but the high school shares a campus with Central Visual and Performing Arts and needs the shifted schedule.

Later start times for high school students, recommended for healthier sleep, are not possible because they would require too many buses, district leaders said.

“We recognize that this is not consistent with the Healthier Schools bell times that we discussed. We will continue to consider these options, but dealing with this emergency had to be our top priority,” Watson told parents.

The busing crisis is a symptom of a larger problem in St. Louis — too many schools for a shrinking student population.

There are 16,542 students in the district’s 68 schools from pre-kindergarten through high school and another 11,370 in 35 charter schools. By comparison, Springfield (Missouri) Public Schools has 24,000 students in 50 schools.

Despite the closure of eight SLPS buildings in 2021 due to low enrollment, at least 20 schools remain with fewer than 200 students. Many students are bused across town to dozens of magnet schools instead of neighborhood schools within walking distance.

According to Matt Davis, vice president of the SLPS board, it is possible that school boundaries will be redrawn next year and more schools may be closed.

“If we had a student assignment plan that made more sense based on geography, if we had fewer schools with more kids … we could achieve many of these goals” for better scheduling and transportation, Davis said at the meeting. “That sounds like heavy lifting in 2025-2026.”