Parents voiced their concerns Tuesday over the Cranbury Board of Education’s proposal to put a bus stop on the corner of a 50-mph road.
By: Jessica Beym
After his 14-year-old son, Guy, was attacked by two Great Danes while walking home from his bus stop last year, Robert Blackburn said Tuesday that he hates the thought of the bus stop being moved even further from his family’s Hardley Drive home.
Mr. Blackburn isn’t the only parent who is concerned about the children’s safety if the bus stop were to be moved out of the neighborhood and onto the busy intersection of Lynch Way and Old Trenton Road, which is what the Board of Education is proposing.
More than a half a dozen Hardley Drive parents on Tuesday questioned the board’s suggestion to change next year’s school bus route, saying that putting the 14 children on a bus stop at the corner of a 50-mph road would be a serious safety hazard.
Mr. Blackburn said that while his son, now a freshman at Princeton High School, has since healed from his physical wounds three bites to his forearm, elbow, buttocks and claw marks down his chest neither of them have recovered emotionally from the accident. He said that he would feel much safer having his 11-year-old daughter wait for the bus at the end of their road then out on the busy intersection of Old Trenton Road.
Board President Joan Rue reassured the parents that while the district plans to settle on a new bus contract by June, the routes and stops would not be finalized until late July or August. The board proposal to change the stop came a few months ago when the district had to reassess the current routes in order to find a new busing company.
Ms. Rue said the district had been able to keep the bus stops fairly consistent throughout the nearly 30-year-contract with the Hamilton-based Laidlaw bus company. But with escalating gas prices, Laidlaw decided not to renew the contract and the district solicited bids for a new bus company April 26.
Because fuel costs have increased, district officials expect the new transportation contract to cost more than the current one. In the 2006-2007 school budget, the board set aside $658,035 in transportation costs, $190,435 more than what was set aside for the current year.
For the past few months, Ms. Rue said, the board had been scrutinizing routes and stops to make things more efficient. No buses were eliminated, but some of the changes included grouping the students onto buses differently, changing some of the routes, and having the buses stop at main intersections rather than entering a neighborhood cul-de-sac like Hardley Drive.
But parents questioned how much money or time the board would save by stopping at the intersection of Old Trenton Road and Lynch Way instead of driving down Hardley Drive to pick up the children. A few residents said they would rather pay the extra dollar to make sure the children are safe.
Daniel Kinney suggested that the board consider putting a stop in the middle of Hardley Drive rather than out on the busy intersection where cars often drive 60 mph or more.
"I’m concerned about the safety issues because there are a number of small kids that board that bus and I’m concerned with having the kids so close to the road," Mr. Kinney said. "I’m wondering what is really being saved here. It’s only a tenth of a mile."
Board member Bill Schraudenbach said the decision to change the routes wasn’t about gas money, but was more about a matter of time. Mr. Schraudenbach said some of the stops were eliminated to save time so that the buses, which also take students to after-school games, would return to the school on time. Mr. Schraudenbach said this has been a problem and the board initially looked into hiring an additional bus, but dismissed the idea because of costs.
"We need to get the buses out to do the routes in a timely manner," Mr. Schraudenbach said, adding that the board tried to be fair when considering all the route changes. "I wouldn’t do it if I thought it was unsafe."
Parents said that at the current bus stop they are able to keep an eye on their children from their home. If the stop was moved to the proposed location, the parents said they would be concerned about the children playing too close to the road, or climbing on snowbanks in the winter, where they could easily slide intro traffic.
"It’s a matter of weighing time, efficiency and money, then safety," Mr. Blackburn said. "Please keep all aspects of safety in mind when you evaluate this."