Administrative Practices

AP T1 - Student Bus Transportation Eligibility and Registration

Legislative References:	None
Policy Reference:	5.10 Student Transportation
Collective Agreement References:	None
Date:	February 19, 2025

Definitions

Regular Rider – A rider who resides within their school’s catchment and was registered for bus transportation within the registration window.

Courtesy Rider – A student who does not meet the criteria of a regular rider but may be granted access to bus transportation as a courtesy.

Registration Window –The period of time where riders for the following year are expected to register for bus services.

1. Registration

The registration window for student bus transportation will be open from April 1 to April 30 for service in the following school year.

1.1.

Registrations submitted after the registration window has closed will be accepted dependent on available seating of the requested route.

1.2.

Registrations received after the registration window create a significant extra administrative load on the Transportation Department. As such, these registrations will incur a late registration fee of $75 and may take several weeks to process.

1.2.1.

The late registration fee will be waived for students who move into the district after the registration window has closed.

1.3.

The Transportation Department will not process registration requests submitted after August 14th until after the end of the third week of the school year.

2. Determining Ridership Access

Access to bus transportation will be processed on a first come, first served basis, following the guidelines in this section.

2.1.

Regular riders will be given a seat on the bus before courtesy riders.

2.2.

Courtesy riders may be granted access to bus services by the following priority order:

2.2.1.	Students registered in French Immersion or other specialized programs and registered in the registration window.
2.2.2.	Students who registered for transportation during the registration window but do not meet eligibility requirements for regular ridership.
2.2.3.	Any transportation registration requests received after the registration window closed.

2.3.

Where ridership eligibility is considered equal, the date and time the registration request was received will take priority.

2.4.

For routes with waitlisted riders - Both courtesy and regular riders may have access to bus service revoked, should they ride less than two (2) days per week, averaged over a one-month window. This is to ensure that buses are utilized as fully as possible.

3. Wait List

3.1.	When a bus route is full, as determined by the Transportation Department, and still has unfilled registration requests for that route, the registrant may request to be placed on a wait list for bus service.
3.2.	Wait listed riders will be offered a seat on the bus in order of their registration date and time, should a seat become available.

4. Notification

The Transportation Department will notify families on or before August 15th to confirm bus service and ridership status.

5. Bus Pass/Card

An electronic manifest system is used on district buses that requires all riders to scan a pass card when getting on and off the bus.

5.1.	Transportation cards will be issued to individual student riders by the Transportation Department. It is preferred that pass cards will be retained from year to year. However, the Transportation Department will supply up to one card per year at no charge.
5.2.	A $10 replacement fee will be charged for missing cards. Once a card is reported missing, the Transportation Department will issue a new card. The missing card will be deactivated and can no longer be used. Transportation cards are the property of the District and if found, lost/missing cards must be returned to the Transportation Department.
5.3.	Students must present/scan their transportation card each time they get on the bus and again when getting off the bus.
5.4.	Ridership privileges may be revoked should a student fail to use/scan their pass card when accessing bus transportation. Some grace will be given, should a student lose their card or occasionally forget their card at home or school.

6. Route Design/review

Each year in the month of May, the Transportation Department will review and establish bus routes and ridership levels for the following year.

6.1.	Transportation registration requests received during the registration window will be used for route planning for the following school year.
6.2.	Route design will endeavour to serve catchment areas identified by Board policy.
6.3.	Bus transportation represents a significant cost to the District and the Transportation Department will strive to design routes to accommodate as many regular riders as possible.