The pilot program is a partnership with Metro and HISD and it’s designed to ease transportation issues with the district.
HOUSTON — It might be hard to believe, but the HISD school year begins in a week. After complaints of long wait and ride times for school bus riders, the district is now partnering with Metro for a new program. They hope that this is a successful solution to a transportation headache.
The district is launching a new pilot program they hope will ease the long wait and ride times some student bus riders faced last year.
“It’s totally the family’s choice,” said Kari Feinberg with HISD. “So this isn’t a situation where we’re forcing any family to have to use Metro instead of HISD transportation or vice versa.”
That’s right. The district is partnering with Metro to provide a new way for some students to get to campus. All HISD high school students who are eligible for bus transportation will now have the option to leave the yellow school bus behind and hop on a Metro.
“The Metro bus may really be a more efficient option for them,” Feinberg said. “The Metro bus stop could be a quarter mile away. It could give them a more direct route than the school bus is able to give.”
It’s completely paid for by the district. Eligible students who sign up will receive prepaid Metro cards allowing them to catch a free ride to school and more.
“We actually want students to be able to use those cards not only to and from school, but also to do things like, you know, go to a job after school, go to a friend’s house on the weekend,” Feinberg said.
To all my fellow parents, I know you may be wondering what safety protocols are in place.
“We have surveillance cameras on all of our buses and a really exciting thing that we brought back that I want parents to know is that we are putting MPD officers back on board our buses,” said Meredith Johnson, executive vice president of communications at Metro.
The district says you can head to Metro’s website and put your address, your child’s campus address, and what time they need to be at school, and Metro’s Route Finder will calculate the best route.
You’ll be able to sign up for the program on HISD’s website through the first day of school.