Reply to Standing room only on the school bus

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]The estimated cost of transportation in the fiscal year 2018 operating budget is $42,090,090. So let's say $42 million.

They say that they transport 103,000 students every day - I think that's from 2016-17, but I don't know if it would have gone up or down. So let's say 100,000.

Now, how much do you want to charge? To cover the whole cost, it would be $420 per kid per year. Are you ok with that?

But 35.1% of students last year qualified for free or reduced meals. Let's assume that kids who qualify for free or reduced meals are proportionately represented among the 100,000 kids who get bused. So it would only be 65,000 students who would pay. Now to cover the whole cost, it would be $646 per kid per year. Are you ok with that?

Also, what kind of enforcement mechanism are you thinking of? Who is going to collect and process the money? Who is going to check that a kid has been paid for? What if the kid hasn't been paid for and tries to get on the bus? What about kids in special education?[/quote]

You could also step into the fees. Remember the costs are already baked into the budget. You could recoup 50% the first year and then increase over the next several years. Also remember that economics drives behavior. If the bus is free there is more frequent casual riding. Kids that live close enough to bike and choose this option over paying or people who use the bus off and on would no longer be factored into the equation. You would have a more stable market of riders and be able to run the system more efficiently. It could even be potentially outsourced or privatized if MCPS can not run anything well.

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