What’s happening?
On Sept. 10, NCISD buses transported the most students they ever have—10,314 students, which is about half of the district’s total enrollment—said Danny Mealer, NCISD’s assistant director of transportation, during a presentation at the district’s board of trustees’ Sept. 15 regular meeting. Even with the growing number of riders, bus routes have been reduced by:
- 35 minutes for elementary school routes
- 30 minutes for middle school routes
- 20 minutes for high school routes
The faster bus route times are due to the district’s requirement that all students who ride buses home from school use a SMART tag ID, Mealer said. The SMART tag IDs give bus drivers seating information for students with one scan, allowing them to cut down loading times, he added.
“As they scan their badge, it populates who [students] are, what seat they sit in, and it just keeps it flowing,” Mealer said. “I've heard really great things from all the elementary campuses the most, because they're the ones that unfortunately would take the [brunt] of all of our buses being so late.”
The SMART tag ID mandate began Sept. 2, as previously reported. The tags are paired to an app that allows parents and guardians to receive updates on their child’s bus ride.
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NCISD buses have also seen a growing number of special education riders, Mealer said. Currently, 336 special education students regularly ride the bus, which is an about a 35% increase since 2019, he added.
