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INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Public Schools is making a change to their transportation system and it could impact your child’s ride to school.
Parents will need to opt-in to ensure their student gets a ride to and from school going into this upcoming school year.
IPS decided last spring to require families to opt-in to riding the bus, if they so choose. They did so because so many students have stopped riding the bus to and from school.
“We moved from about 19,600-ish children who’d been routed to 16,217 regular users, which is 3,000 fewer children in the system,” said Chief Operations Officer, Bill Murphy.
School buses have been automatically driving by each one of those students’ homes since the change, but that will stop next year.
“We have about 4,500 and 5,000 people who have already completed the opt-in,” said Murphy. “Everyone who remains who would qualify and hasn’t yet opted-in, we are calling them individually.”
They hope the new system will mean they need fewer buses, drivers, and routes.
“By moving to a more efficient system, where we know for certain that a parent wishes for their child to ride the bus starting at the start of the school year, we’ll be able to ensure that buses move in a more timely fashion, but also that we’re better able to track students and ensure their safety,” he added.
Another school system with a similar method, Carmel Clay Schools asks parents to let them know if they’d like to opt-out of transportation.
Murphy added he hopes this change will also prevent route changes mid-school year.
“This year, on average, we’ve processed 1,000 changes per week for our bus routes,” he said.
To opt-in, parents can enroll online or call the 4000 number on the IPS main line.
To enroll your IPS student, click here.
The deadline to enroll is July 1st.
The system will take effect on the first day of the 2024 fall semester.
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