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Parents Halt Bus-Stop Change

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

WESTCHASE - Parents successfully fought a last-minute change to a neighborhood bus route that had their children waiting along busy Countryway Boulevard.

The Hillsborough County School District is reducing the number of bus stops across the county to become more efficient. The Westchase community of Harbor Links lost at least one stop in the change, said father Barry Driks, but two remained within the neighborhood.

But the week after classes began, parents received a phone call from the district that the bus stops would be combined and moved outside the neighborhood gate at the intersection of Countryway and Peabody Lane.

It resulted in traffic congestion and safety concerns inside and outside of the gate. A few days later, district officials told parents the stops would return to within the community.

Parents had complained to the district and planned to attend a school board meeting to voice their concerns. School board member Susan Valdes went to the Countryway stop to see where the problems were.

Moving the bus stop outside the gate put it far enough from some homes that several parents drove their children to the stop and parked within the gate, Driks said. Children raced to get from the cars to the bus when the bus arrived.

The stopped bus, meanwhile, meant cars backed up behind it on Countryway and vehicles exiting the community had to wait until everyone cleared out. About 35 families had children at the stop.

"It was as close to gridlock as I've ever seen down here, on a much smaller scale," Driks said.

Parents also worried about traffic and speeders on Countryway.

John Franklin, the district's transportation head, discussed the issues with a father last week. A department employee later called parents to tell them that the district would move the stop off Countryway to two locations within the community's gate for elementary school and one inside for middle and high school.

The transportation department has been under fire since this summer for the changes it made to bus stops. Some parents in other areas challenged the moves, triggering safety reviews and, in some cases, revised decisions. Others complained about poor communication with the department and a lack of information.

The district started reducing and moving bus stops last year in eastern Hillsborough County and expanded that to more of the county this year, including much of northwestern Hillsborough.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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