Columbus City Schools is weighing whether to stop running yellow buses for most high school students and instead send them to school on COTA buses, as the district looks for savings and the transit agency works to recover from tens of thousands of missed trips. District administrators updated the Board of Education on the idea at its Oct. 20 meeting, presenting early work from a group studying whether a switch to Central Ohio Transit Authority passes is workable.
The discussion comes after reporting in September that COTA buses had missed 32,000 trips through August, a reliability problem that board members said any student plan would have to reckon with. Families who depend on a bus arriving on time for a first-period class cannot build a school day around a route that may not show, and administrators acknowledged that concern directly as they laid out the options now being drafted.
Administrators presented three broad options for high school transportation, including charter and private school students the district also carries. One option would cancel high school busing entirely without providing COTA passes, a second would cancel busing while providing COTA passes, and a third would cancel busing for most students in grades 9 through 12 while keeping yellow bus service for students whose trip would require more than one transfer or whose school is otherwise not accessible by transit.
The savings differ sharply by option. Administrators estimated the first plan would save the district about $7.2 million, the second about $5 million, and the third about $4.8 million. Those figures are why the idea keeps returning: the district is cutting costs, and high school transportation is one of the largest services it can change without closing a classroom.
The current study follows a contentious round of votes last December, when two measures to cancel high school busing failed after debate over whether ending the service without a concrete replacement plan was wise. The board instead voted unanimously to create a work group and direct the superintendent to work with COTA and other central Ohio leaders on a detailed transit plan.
For students, the change would be daily and practical: a COTA pass works very differently from a route built around a school bell schedule, with public stops, transfers and travel times that vary by neighborhood. Supporters say older students already use public transit in many cities and that passes could offer more flexibility for jobs and after-school activities, while skeptics warn the burden would fall hardest on families farthest from frequent bus lines.
The administration has until the end of December to present a plan to the board, and administrators said the work is now at the drafting stage. No option has been adopted, and any change would still need a board vote, a timeline families can plan around, and an answer to the reliability question raised by COTA’s missed trips.
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