With hundreds of school buses on the road transporting thousands of students from home to school and back again, Pasco County Schools set up a transportation call center to help fix any issues quickly.
However, after Friday, that center will close down — a week earlier than expected. That’s thanks to the fact that the call volume to the center over the first week has dwindled down to levels where such a hotline is no longer needed, officials said.
The early closure of the telephone line can be attributed to the planning, training and other steps the district and schools took to make the transportation run smoothly at the start of the school year, officials said in a release. Those steps included finalizing bus stops by the end of June, developing a smartphone app that provided school bus information, provide more practice runs for bus drivers prior to the start of school, using bus labels for elementary school students, and parent cooperation.
“This is an example of how successful an operation can be when district departments work together, schools work with the district, and parents and students work together with the schools and district,” school district superintendent Kurt Browning said, in a release. “We also owe our gratitude to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office for helping with elementary school traffic issues, and supplying volunteers to help at the call center.”
Parents who still call the hotline will be forwarded to one of the transportation compounds for assistance. In addition, schools will continue to use the My Bus Loop app through Aug. 29, and could still use it throughout the school year.
