Parents upset BlueGo won’t stop at WHS
The nearest BlueGo stop to Whittell High is on Highway 50 by the senior center. Photo/LTN
By Kathryn Reed
INCLINE VILLAGE – For the last five years BlueGo bus drivers have dropped off Whittell High School students at the school. That ended recently and the parents of these students are not happy.
“Complaints from commuters prompted staff to review the stop. It was determined the stop only generated ridership four days a week, less than 10 months a year, and that the ridership was often nonexistent,” Carl Hasty, Tahoe Transportation District executive director, wrote in the Nov. 13 staff report.
The four days a week and 10 months reflect how often WHS is in session.
Three parents showed up to the Friday board meeting at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village asking for the district to keep trying to find a solution. They believe moving the stop to the senior center along Highway 50 is too dangerous. Plus, they don’t understand what the big deal is to take the students less than one mile to school, especially when the BlueGo bus is already crossing the highway to stop at the senior center.
TTD is not allowed to do specialized school bus transportation. An express route only services this section of Douglas County and the route is Highway 50 – not any offshoots.
The fact that WHS has been serviced in the past was a mistake, according to Hasty.
It is students who live in the Carson Valley who are using BlueGo as a means to get to school. The parents estimated about 11 students make the commute, though not all desire to ride BlueGo.
The parents don’t believe the senior center stop is safe. The bus sign is extremely close to the highway and had snow near it days after the storm last week. When people stand under the breezeway of the senior center bus drivers don’t see them.
“We would pay a monthly fee whether our children ride the bus or not,” parent Tara Burke told the board.
A school bus won’t transport the kids from the senior center to the school because it is Douglas County School District policy for those less than 1.5 miles away to have to walk.
DCSD does not charge any of its students to ride the bus.
What hasn’t been looked at is if the valley students could be dropped off by BlueGo at a designated school bus stop and ride from there – for free or a fee.
“I’m not opposed to working something out,” DCSD Superintendent Teri White told Lake Tahoe News. But at the same she said, “I’m not hearing from the school that it is an issue.”
Principal Crespin Esquivel has communicated with TTD, saying the senior center stop is not safe and asking for students to be brought to and from the Zephyr Cove school.
Parents also brought up that these students should be treated like any other member of the public and that there is no difference if they commute for school while other riders commute for work.
The fact that students are going between DCSD, Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Lake Tahoe Community College was also broached, pointing to the need to perhaps look at how all students are getting to and from and between the educational facilities.
The TTD board, staff and parents agreed to keep talking.
It sure sounds like a Douglas County transportation issue – not SLT or Blue Go. I am 70 years old & I live at the back of Sierra Tract, 13 blocks to the nearest bus stop – way too far for me to walk. Bus service into Sierra Tract was pulled out and we have no service except the more expensive door-to-door service which requires 24-hour advanced reservations.
I believe there is a transportation meeting at noon on Wednesday, Nov 18 in the Aspen Room at LTCC.
How about parents stepping up and take their own kids to school instead of demanding someone else do it?
Good luck with that!
Wow Kits, I guess you never heard of some kids riding the bus to school? Sometime parents need help in getting their kids to school, and a bus has been the answer for decades. Maybe YOU can step up and help out these working parents who are trying to step up and work so their kids can have a better life.
“The fact that WHS has been serviced in the past was a mistake, according to Hasty”
So according to TTD, kids using the public transit system to get to school is a mistake?
Let’s think about that statement for a few minutes before we give these guys the go ahead to spend hundreds of millions dollars on new projects.
Big: Been there done that. It’s their turn now.
Where do these kids live that isn’t served by a DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL BUS???
I agree with Irish. Who in their right mind would lobby for the loop road before they fund bus stops in Sierra Tract??
Who in their right mind would link two totally and completely separate issues like school bus service and the realignment of a U.S. Highway?
Quid, yes local dollars are used to fund bus service. TTD is a quasi-federal organization. The feds do not fund bus service. Never have, never will and if they were, it was illegal.
Moral,
Its not school bus service its Blue Go. Blue Go gets some/all of its funding from TTD. The same entity spending tons of money planning for the Loop Road. You can’t see the connection???
I cant see a connection because there is no connection. Either Sierra Tract supports bus service or it doesn’t. It doesn’t, therefore there is not much in the way of bus service. Same with Meyers. It would be cheaper to buy cars for people.
The loop road will enable South Shore to host festivals like Snow Globe without the insane busing. So, like Rick said, can it be an evil design to shift people to Nevada. Obviously the answer is no because there are only casinos over on the Nevada side for hotels and they, you may have noticed, are not much of a draw for the crowd that comes here now. Adding jazz festivals or art festivals is not going to change that. Yes car shows will.
These are entirely different issues. One is basic math, the other is a complete remake of the economic base of the South Shore.
Are any of Blue Go’s routs profitable? If not why not serve the Sierra Tract?
None are profitable. Some loose less than others. How many empty buses have to go by an area before we just take the cheap way out and buy a car for people? There has to be a limit.
Moral, the reason I bring up the Nevada side supporting the loop road is because they are creating a redevelopment area at Stateline. Edgewood, which is a terrific project, is just the beginning. That project is only happening because the City of SLT allowed the transfer of TAU’s to the Nevada side. Rumor has the Lakeside Inn is chomping at the bit to build more rooms. There are also plans to possibly build an event center on the Nevada side. The tourist will be re-routed to benefit the Nevada side. Those are some of the reasons I do not trust the process. Just my opinion!
Rick you brought up the Nevada side without even giving it a shred of thought. Edgewood is adding a whopping 154 rooms to south shore. They are going to average about $500 a night at least. So lets say Lakeside adds the same. Thats 300 rooms, the first of which are not a substitute good for anything existing on the South Shore today. They are a brand new market.
The loop enables events like jazz festivals that bring in thousands. The jazz fest in Telluride brings in over 10,000 people for a week. Their bluegrass fest is capped at 12,000 for 4 days.
How can any thinking person even suggest the 154 rooms at Edgewood (double it if you want for your rumor) are even remotely material to the potential of not having our tourist core bisected by a U.S. Highway?
Nogo (oh yeah, I forgot, it is bluego), has stops scheduled every odd hour for LTCC. Bus drivers refuse to stop at LTCC on these scheduled stops for paying students. This outfit is a joke.
Moral Hazard, I’m confused. You say TTD is a “quasi” federal agency and they do not fund bus service. “Never have, never will and if they were, it was illegal” were your words.
But, in an article today (https://www.laketahoenews.net/2015/11/ttd-considering-operating-bluego-in-house/), it says that TTD is considering bringing Blue Go operations in house and that they are currently providing $5.4 million in funding to operate the system through a contractor.
I’m not trying to start an argument, I just want to understand how things really work.
Sorry I was imprecise and didn’t catch it until later. Education and school buses must be funded by local taxes. Hate it or love it, I hate it, but it is the way it is.
TTD is similar to TRPA. they are not quite federal and not quite state but probably closer to federal to this extent and have a responsibility for transportation across the bi-state region.
TTD dollars funding school busing is simply an improper use of their funding.