HOUSTON, Texas – Tuesday, Aug. 12, is the first day of school for students who attend classes in the Houston Independent School District.
In a new partnership with METRO, the district is offering FREE METRO bus rides for qualifying high schoolers. HISD had hoped about 1,000 students would sign up for the Metro bus option, but so far, a little under that number, about 800 students, have signed up.
HISD is the largest school district in Texas by enrollment and the sixth largest in the United States. Despite a budget approximately $50 million smaller than last year, about 20,000 HISD students still rely on bus transportation to get to school.
“It is expensive. It is inefficient in many cases. And so we’ve started to think more creatively about ways in which we can better serve our families and our students,” Chief of Organizational Effectiveness at HISD, Kari Feinberg, said.
Dante Arceneaux, a recent graduate of HISD’s Lamar High School and a rising YouTube star, is familiar with the public transportation system.
When asked if he could name all the buses that come from his school, he replied, “Nearly, I’m familiar with the downtown and south side area.”
Arceneaux rode a Metro bus every day to get to and from school.
This year, for the first time, HISD will cover the cost of public transportation for students, offering families a new option.
The question remains whether this option is safe.
Houston’s public transportation system has experienced crime incidents recently, including two shootings at METRO bus stops, one of which was fatal.
“I’m a parent, an HISD parent, and I’m like, is this gonna be safe for my kid? We want all HISD parents to feel safe putting their children in our system,” said Meredith Johnson, the Executive Vice President for Communications for METRO.
Regarding location tracking and safety, METRO confirmed that if students swipe their fare cards, the system records where and when they board. HISD police will have access to this information. However, the fare card system does not track when riders exit the bus.
Johnson shared several safety measures METRO is implementing:
- “We are putting surveillance cameras on every single bus that are monitored.”
- “We are putting officers back on buses.”
- “We have the Ride Metro app that students can use to either text or call and reach an MPD officer if there’s an incident on board.”
Arceneaux shared his personal experience. He said that, over the more than four years he had ridden the Metro bus to school, he had never encountered a safety issue.
“I would say, my mom used the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature. As long as you have your location on with your kids, like it’s okay to monitor your kids,” Arceneaux said.
Both HISD and METRO recommend that parents monitor their children’s location via phone if possible.
Families will have the option to return to traditional school busing if the METRO option does not work out.
Benefits for those who continue with the METRO option include an air-conditioned ride, onboard Wi-Fi, and additional fare money that can be used for non-school activities.
“So if a student has an after-school job, they can use their pass to access their job. If they want to go to the museum on the weekend, or if they want to go to a friend’s house on the weekends,” Johnson said.
Currently, the METRO option is available only to high school students. HISD has set a goal for no more than a 50-minute METRO bus ride one way for students traveling to their zoned school.
However, Arceneaux reports longer travel times.
“It would take me about an hour and 15 minutes, maybe a little less,” Arceneaux said.
HISD advises families to practice the METRO routes in advance.
