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Charlotte mom says new CMS express routes kept her kids from riding the bus

While CMS leaders say the express bus routes have been beneficial, some parents say that hasn't been their experience.

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — More than 5,000 students were affected when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools cut bus routes last year as part of its express bus stop plan

Under this plan, the district lost around 100 buses that took students and to and from schools across the area. The district is now reflecting on the plan after getting some feedback on the early results. 

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Adam Johnson, the transportation director for CMS, explained that despite initial pushback, there was some "positive impact" of the express stop rollout. That includes saving around $3.2 million in funding, increasing the number of on-time drop-offs and shortening ride times for students from over an hour to around 30 minutes. 

Still, there are some parents who haven't seen the positives. They include Alice Church, who says her children had to come up with another plan after riding the bus to school for years. 

"Unfortunately riding the bus just wasn’t an option for our family this year because of the early start time," Church said. "My children go to a late bell, so the school day starts at 9:15 and ends at 4:15 and my kids were just getting off the bus way too late."

She says more should be done to accommodate the parents this caused an issue for, suggesting the district find more drivers to "pick up students in areas that make sense for the are they’re zoned for and for the school they attend.”

Johnson says with the new budget that will be released for the year, CMS hopes to come up with more options that may benefit everyone, even if that doesn't mean adding 100 buses back into the transportation plan. 

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