Frequently Asked Questions

1. The bus didn't show up on time for my child. How long should she wait at the stop?
Your child should arrive at the bus stop at least five minutes before the regular scheduled arrival time of the bus. If there is a substitute driver, the arrival time may not be absolutely consistent with the regular arrival time. If the bus is late, ask your child to remain at the bus stop for at least 15 minutes past the scheduled arrival time, unless weather conditions are extreme. Buses break down, roads are blocked, drivers become ill or have emergencies, but there will always be a bus at the bus stop. If the wait exceeds the 15 minutes prescribed, please call the transportation office at 203-318-0777 to report the lateness of the bus.

2. What should be done if there is a transportation-related problem?
If the problem is specific to bus services, i.e. a late bus or no pickup/dropoff service has been rendered, or is specific to a bus stop or route, please call Durham School Services at 203-318-0777 or email to mgrayson@durhamschoolservices.com.

3. My child's bus is overcrowded. Can some children be placed on another bus?
School bus sizes are stated in terms of passenger capacity for elementary school-aged children. It is assumed that elementary school-aged children will ride three per seat. Middle and high school students are assumed to ride two per seat. If the bus has three (3) elementary students or two (2) middle or high school students in each seat, it will seem crowded but it will not be over capacity. It is our goal to utilize as fully as possible all the space on all the buses in the fleet.

4. I see buses all the time with only a few children on them. What are they doing?
MPS school buses make two to four runs into and out of schools each day. Over 3,200 students are transported to and from the schools on a daily basis. On the majority of these runs, MPS buses achieve a load factor of more than 65%. However, the school district is involved with special programs that require that students be transported considerable distances. When transporting students to these special program, the time length of the run sometimes makes it impossible to utilize fully the capacity of the bus. Often, however, as the bus travels within the school's attendance district it will stop and pick up additional students. Examples of these special program would be magnet schools, alternative programs, and special education programs. Another reason is school attendance district boundaries. Several of the schools have attendance boundaries that stretch from the most northern areas of the town to the southern areas.

5. Why are school bus seats spaced so closely together?
The basic purpose in spacing school bus seats so closely is to contain the child in a cushioned compartment with only a minimum amount of space between energy-absorbing surfaces.

6. We live very far from the school and there is not bus stop near for my child. How do I arrange transportation?
Permanent cluster stops have been placed throughout Madison and stops are activated on an as needed basis. When a student is enrolled and entered in the transportation software, the unused cluster stop is activated.

7. I drove the distance in my car and we live more than that distance from the school / bus stop.
Distance is measured by checking the distance between the bus stop and the residence property line using the transportation software or a walking wheel, either method being more accurate than odometer readings. Distance assessments can be made on an as needed basis.

8. My child's walking route is not safe. To whom should I speak about that?
The Safety Officer of Durham School Services in conjunction with other town agencies assess the safety of bus routes and walking routes. If you have any questions please call Durham School Services at 203-318-0777.

9. Since you have a Safety Officer to evaluate walking and bus routes, can I assume that my child is safe walking to the school or bus stop if he or she takes the most direct or most reasonable route?
Every effort is made to ensure that bus stops and routes as safe as possible. Routes are initially assessed as they are placed on the electronic map and reassessed during trial runs. Changes are made as appropriate to ensure the safety of our students.

10. I can't see my child's bus stop from my house. How can I get the bus stop moved closer?
The Board of Education's policy has mandated cluster stops based on distance guidelines. If a cluster stop exists within the approved distance parameters a stop will not be moved closer to a residence. Stops may be reassessed due to the addition of new streets, or changes in conditions that affect safety. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to stand with or meet the child until the child is picked up or dropped off by Durham School Services.

11. We live within the walking boundary but very close to a bus stop for my child's school. May my child ride the bus from that stop?
All Madison Public School students have been assigned bussing status for the school year.

12. Is approval of transportation for a walking student permanent?
The approval is granted only for the current year and must be resubmitted. However, if approved and at a later date the bus becomes overcrowded, the walking route becomes unsafe, or the stop is removed, the approval will be rescinded in order of the most recent application first.

13. My child goes to an approved day care provider in an area with school bus service. May my child ride the bus?
MPS regulations authorize us to provide transportation for Kindergarten - Grade 5 students if the day care facility is within their attendance district and there is available space on the regular route for a bus. Transportation to day care may be recinded if overcrowding on busses due to regularly assigned students exceeds the vehicle limit for passengers.

14. My child is a special education student. To whom should I speak concerning his transportation?
The Central Office is responsible for transporting special education students to and from the school regardless of their specific disabilities. Students requiring lift buses and other special education students are transported by special education vehicles/vans. The office staff can be reached at 245-6300. If you have a question about transportation for your special needs child, please call the Central Office. Staff will be happy to assist you.

15. My child left a coat (glasses, instrument, retainer, books) on the bus. How can he get it back?
Drivers check their buses after every run. Items left by students are held by the driver for several days and may be claimed on the bus by the child. Fragile items are often taken off the buses in the evening for their protection, but will be available the next morning. After several days the driver will make an effort to locate the owner. Unclaimed and unlabeled items are donated to charity. You can help by labeling all of your child's school belongings with the child's name and school.

16. What are the different types of school buses?
Madison Public Schools has several types of school buses. There are "transit style" buses that have a flat front, like a public bus. Some of these buses are rear-engine; others have the engine in the front. The benefits of this design are that (1) it affords the driver excellent forward visibility, (2) since there is no large hood, it is easier and safer for the driver to check the engine prior to driving and (3) allows more seats in the same overall vehicle length.

The second major style of bus is the "conventional style", which is the traditional style with the long forward hood. The decreased forward visibility afforded by this design is compensated for by swing-out "crossing gates" which force any students crossing in front of the bus to walk well out in front of the bus so that the driver can see him or her.

There is a third type of bus that is, essentially, a short-nosed "conventional" bus. The hood is very short, so there is still good foreword visibility, and the hood is fairly light, so it is not too difficult to open.

In terms of bus sizes, there are the large buses that are used for most students. These include some 84 - passenger transit buses, a large number of 78-passenger transit buses, and a lot of the 64-passenger conventional buses. The large buses are the ones that are used to transport most students.

The smaller buses range in size from 54-passenger to 36-passenger buses. These are nominal sizes, though. Many of these buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts. A single wheelchair position requires the same space as two or three bench seats. Therefore, a lift-equipped bus will carry far fewer passengers than its nominal size might indicate.

All of our buses are diesel-powered. All of our buses are equipped with automatic transmissions. Additionally, all of our buses are equipped with two-way radios.

17. Why are school bus seats spaced so closely together?
The basic purpose in spacing school bus seats so closely is to contain the child in a cushioned compartment with only a minimum amount of space between energy-absorbing surfaces.

After extensive research during the 1970's, the Department of Transportation and its agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that the safest and most practical arrangement for school bus seating would be a "compartmentalization" concept. Accordingly, the new safety regulations established in 1977 included this requirement among many other improvements made that year. Under the compartmentalization concept, seat backs in school buses are made higher, wider and thicker than before. All metal surfaces are covered with foam padding. This structure must then pass rigid test requirements for absorbing energy, such as would be required if a child's body were thrown against the padded back. In addition, the equivalent of a seat back, called a "barrier", is placed in front of the first seat at the front of the bus.

In addition to padding, today's seats also must have a steel inner structure that springs and bends forward to help absorb energy when a child is thrown against it. The steel frame must "give" just enough to absorb the child in the seat ahead. Also, of course, the seat is required to be anchored to the floor so strongly it will not pull loose during this bending action. The floor itself must be so strong that it will not be bent or torn by the pulling action of the seat anchors.

Finally, the requirement is added that seat backs can be no father apart than a distance that is deemed safe. Clearly, if the backs were too far apart, the child could be thrown too far before being cushioned and/or could be thrown outside the compartment altogether. Today's rules call for a seat back to be no farther than 24" away from a defined point in the middle of a child's abdomen (the seat reference point).

18. Why aren't seat belts required in school buses?
Seat belts are not required in school buses because research by DOT and others determined that compartmentalization was a better solution, as mentioned under question #17. Some of the key arguments favoring compartmentalization over seat belts are as follows:

a) Compartmentalization is more manageable. The protective surfaces exist in place without depending on any action by the children or any extra special supervision by the drivers. Seat belts require discipline and supervision to keep them clean, unraveled and in use.

b) Compartmentalization works equally well for 1, 2 or 3 students per seat. Today's 39" wide standard seats may contain three small children or two large ones, or any combination in between. Arranging seat belts to properly handle any combination is difficult, if not impossible; the best known solution with seat belts is to restrict each seat to two students and two belts, which had the disadvantage of sharply reducing the carrying capacity of bus fleets.

c) Compartmentalization works whether students have fully developed abdominal areas or not. Conventional seat belts, which are lap restraints only, are not suitable for small children whose abdominal area and bone structure are not adequately developed to take the force of a lap belt alone. They need the help of chest harnesses also, which adds to the complexity of a proper seat belt solution.

d) Compartmentalization, once it has done its energy-absorbing job, leaves the student free to escape the bus. Seat belts could leave students strapped in, upside down, perhaps unconscious, in burning or flooding buses.

e) Compartmentalization is most affordable. Although not a part of the Department of Transportation reasoning, this is a factor to be considered. In evaluating the cost of seat belts alone, one should include the cost of retractors and chest restraints also, since those appear needed. Even more important is the probability that a seat belt solution should lead to two students per seat and greater spacing between seats, thereby requiring more buses for the same student load.

19. Why are 39 inch seats in school buses rated for three children when they only will accommodate two?
The rated capacity of a 39" width passenger seat was devised many years ago by the committee then making recommendations to the National Minimum Standards for School Buses. In determining seating capacity of a bus, an allowable average rump width standard was established.

Accordingly, 13" of rump width was suggested when a 3-3 seating plan was used. This suggested guideline is still recognized by most states as the accepted standard.

20. Do state regulations for school buses supersede federal regulations?
No. State laws do not supersede federal requirements. State regulations for school buses can and usually do add requirements for safety. These requirements are additional to the federal requirements.

21. Why are buses sometimes late?
School bus drivers can have the same reasons as motorists for being late. Traffic delays, weather conditions, accidents, or driver's illness are just a few reasons. School buses also have mechanical breakdowns or "no starts" that cause delays in picking students up on time. A school bus may be able to run but have a red traffic light malfunction which would make it unsafe to pick up or discharge students on our roads before it is repaired. In cases where the regularly assigned bus or driver is unable to pick up students, a separate bus and driver are dispatched to pick up the students.

22. Why aren't buses always available for field trips?
The first priority is to provide transportation to and from school. The school bus fleet does not contain a separate set of buses designated for field trip use. Therefore, whenever school buses are not in use for normal to and from school transportation, they are available for field trip use. For planning purposes, school buses are available on school days prior to 6 a.m., from 9:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again after 4:00 p.m. Occasionally in the Spring, the demand for field trips can outnumber the drivers and buses available. Transportation staff and requesters of field trips discuss individual circumstances.

23. Why can't the high school, the middle schools, and elementary schools start at the same time for each group?
In order to maximize the use of our school bus fleet and to provide a more efficient operation with as few buses as possible, schools are put into different time schedules. That enables one bus to serve two to four different schools within 2 ½ hours in the morning and afternoon. The High school is generally in the first time schedule, middle schools are on the second or third schedule and elementary schools can be on any of the second or third since there are more elementary schools than any other.

It may be necessary to change some school starting and ending times each year due to program changes such as the restructured seven-period day or other changes to prevent the use of additional school buses.

24. How can the number of students transported increase more than the total student enrollment increase?
Nearly 70% of the total student enrollment is bused to and from school each day. If a prediction is made that student enrollment will increase by 800, but students transported increased by 2,000, the most common cause is because students were assigned to schools or centers other than the base neighborhood school. This can be the result of school boundary adjustments, school closings or opening of a new school.

25. Why are spare replacement buses needed?
The Madison Public Schools' transportation contract specifies that no bus or vehicle shall be more than five years old. Despite this stipulation, buses may need repairs to ensure safety and reliability.

26. What is the definition of a school bus?
A school bus shall mean a school bus body chassis which is licensed by the State of Connecticut to operate as a school bus and which meets all established school bus regulations as promulgated by the State of Connecticut, both at the inception of the transportation contract and throughout the term.

27. How can my child get picked up or dropped off at a day care provider's location?
A form, available from your child's school, needs to be completed and returned to the school. Your child's school will forward your request to the transportation office for processing. Day care transportation can only be provided on a consistent basis, i. e., every day, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday etc. MPS cannot have alternating weeks of daycare, only one set schedule can be accommodated.

28. How is elementary school district attendance determined?
Generally, enrollment is determined by the student’s home address. Elementary school district borders may be adjusted based on current and projected enrollment data to ensure class sizes will be equitably distributed across the elementary schools, and remain consistent with Board of Education policy.