CUSD students are crowding SamTrans buses

UPDATE:  The County Times has a story on this situation with plenty of additional detail, including an interview with Superintendent Bayless. I also believe there will be a story in today’s Half Moon Bay Review.

Students from Half Moon Bay High School and Cunha Intermediate School who have no other way of getting home are crowding onto SamTrans buses designed for 20 passengers. The nonprofit agency that operates the buses for SamTrans says unless it can get some help with the extra passengers, kids and adults will be left behind.

The problem has its roots in the Cabrillo Unified School District’s decision to discontinue bus service, but the district says it’s not their problem.

Many of the students live in the Moonridge affordable housing project for agricultural workers south of Half Moon Bay, and have no other way of getting home.

The buses are operated by Coastside Opportunity Center, a nonprofit agency serving the poor, elderly, and disabled. COC operates bus service from Pescadero to Moss Beach under a contract with SamTrans.

Some kids have been walking to earlier stops further north in order to get a seat on the southbound bus.

"When I learned this was going on, we added the second bus in the morning and afternoon," said Cheri Parr, Executive Director of the Coastside Opportunity Center since October. [Disclosure: Cheri is my wife.] The extra buses have alleviated the problems in the morning, but has unexpectedly encouraged more students who’d given up on getting a ride to try again. The result is more unmet demand in the afternoon.

Parr appealed to the Cabrillo Unified School District for assistance with the problem, but she was turned away. She was told the district has chosen not to spend its money on transportation. CUSD has not provided school bus service since 2002. The district does bus elementary school students from Moonridge to Farallone View Elementary in Montara. Superintendent Dr. John Bayless was unavailable when Coastsider called for comment this afternoon.

The cost of the additional bus is being borne by COC. "We don’t have the equipment, drivers, or budget to add any more buses when they’re needed," said Cheri Parr. "And we can’t overcrowd the ones we have. Our first priority has to be the safety of the passengers."  The result is that beginning Monday, February 27, the afternoon bus will allow no more than twenty total passengers and everyone else will have to wait for the next bus, about 90 minutes later, or walk.

The Coastside Opportunity Center’s Parr plans to bring this problem before the CUSD board at a future meeting.

Time for a mini-celebration: This is the 1,000th article posted on Coastsider since we launched in 2004. Our second anniversary is coming up soon as well. More on that later.