Anonymous wrote:I see the arrival routes, but not the departure times. Are the route numbers the same? How do we know what time to get to the bus stop?

They for some reason never post the departure routes on that main web site, however, your individual school's site may have its own departure routes posted there. The route numbers are often, but not always, the same as the arrival routes.

I see the arrival routes, but not the departure times. Are the route numbers the same? How do we know what time to get to the bus stop?

Anonymous wrote:How much time do you estimate for each stop? They only give the beginning and ending times, so if you're somewhere in the middle, you have to just guess what it will be.

You really do just have to figure it out as things evolve. There could be 10 minutes between two stops, or 3, or 20. Be super-early the first few days, and adjust from there.

The routes can change in the first few weeks, too, as they figure out traffic, number of riders, etc. One year my ES kid’s magnet bus took almost two hours the first day, about an hour the rest of the week, before they made adjustments and eventually settled out to about 25 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:How much time do you estimate for each stop? They only give the beginning and ending times, so if you're somewhere in the middle, you have to just guess what it will be.

Be early the first week. You'll figure it out as the driver does, too.

How much time do you estimate for each stop? They only give the beginning and ending times, so if you're somewhere in the middle, you have to just guess what it will be.

The current school year routes are posted now:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/transportation/busroutes/

New routes aren't officially posted yet, but both of my kids' schools (middle and high) have just updated the back-to-school info on their websites and included the new bus route info. One of my kids' routes changed by 1 minute from last year and out of curiosity I compared all the school's routes with last year and saw very minor changes, with the largest change being about a 10 minute shift.

It’s a week or two before school starts. I wouldn’t expect major changes.

They don’t usually post routes until a few weeks before school starts. And even those will be tinkered with for the first few weeks until they get timings and ridership worked out.

Our schools have usually sent an email to let us know when the routes are posted each year.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, but I appreciate your questions. I see buses on the roads a lot lately so I assume they're working out the kinks for prime efficiency.

Summer school programs have buses, yes?

And our middle school orientation said mid-august.

I don't know, but I appreciate your questions. I see buses on the roads a lot lately so I assume they're working out the kinks for prime efficiency.

Has anyone heard when the fall routes will be posted? Do you think might make changes from last year's posted stops or times to adjust for the bus driver shortage? I know they also just hired a new director of transportation, so I guess he could want to make some changes.