Bus ride times of exceptional school children

This paper examines bus ride times of exceptional school children in North Carolina. It uses levels of service data, which show excessive ride times for exceptional school children, to form clusters of local education agencies. From these clusters short term objectives or standards for maximum ride times are determined for each cluster. Among the findings are three distinct clusters of local education agencies (clusters 1, 2 and 3) whose maximum ride times are respectively 170 minutes, 105 minutes and 62 minutes. The maximum ride times show that only one cluster (cluster 3) provides a service whose maximum ride time is comparable to the ideal maximum ride time (long term objective) of one hour revealed by the literature and also by responses of school superintendents and transportation directors. Methods of achieving these standards are examined. A comparison of the levels of service of regular and exceptional children transportation is also provided. This study has been conducted under subcontract to Ernst and Young Inc. It is part of a larger study on exceptional children transportation funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The views expressed herein are those of the author and not of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction nor Ernst and Young Inc.