Omnitrans Sees Boon After School Bus Service Cuts

This year's cuts to school bus service might be a burden on families of high school students from Loma Linda, but it's proving a boon to Omintrans.

Three months after Redlands Unified School District largely eliminated district-funded transportation for older kids, Loma Linda students are still riding the bus to Redlands High School -- the Omnitrans bus that is.

According to Omnitrans officials, the number of riders taking Route Nine, which travels through a section of Loma Linda to Redlands High School, grew after the district dropped its school bus service, said Wendy Williams, marketing director for Omnitrans.

And ridership remains high, she said.

"We are still seeing a lot of students riding (our) buses," Williams said.

Earlier this year, Redlands Unified announced it could no longer afford to provide bus service, because of state funding cuts.

The program was underfunded even before the latest cuts, officials said. The state had been providing $974,477, while the actual transportation cost to the district was $3.9 million a year.

The remaining cost was covered by $350,000 in parent fees and the district's general fund, officials said.

The state cut $26.88 million of the district's overall funding since 2007. In July 2010 alone, the state cut $11.68 million, district officials said. The district has been forced to trim expenses, cutting its maintenance and operations budgets. The transportation budget became a casualty.

"To keep the most recent state funding cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, it was necessary to eliminate high school transportation services," school officials wrote.

The district had been busing more than 600 students from Loma Linda to and from Redlands High School, officials said.

In response to the increased ridership, Omnitrans added a second bus to Route Nine during peak hours, before and right after classes, Williams said.

The route, which used to carry an average of 60 riders in the morning,  now carries some 100. After school, the average ridership climbed to 120 from about 70.

Redlands is not alone. Yucaipa-Calimesa Unified District and Beaumont Unified School District also made cuts to their school bus programs.

And as 2010 nears its end, projections for the coming year don't look promising for the transportation program, officials said.

 "The state budget is not doing well," said Joe Aceto, coordinator of maintenance operations and transportation for Redlands Unified.

"We don't anticipate any budget increases," he said.