ROCORI Routing Guidelines

ROCORI Public Schools (ISD 750) along with Voigt School Bus Service and Richmond Bus Service is committed to providing safe and efficient school bus transportation to its students. We have a long tradition of providing this service safely to all students that are eligible under Minnesota State laws,

rules and regulations. The State of Minnesota currently requires transportation services for students who reside more than 2 miles from school. ROCORI Schools generally provides transportation to students in grades K-5 who live more than a half-mile from the school and students in grades 6-12 more than 1 mile from the school. The following will outline the services we provide and explain how we comply with laws and rules that pertain to school bus transportation.

 

The mission at ROCORI Public Schools, Voigt School Bus Service and Richmond Bus Service is preparing self–directed learners to thrive in a changing global community. Our Goal is to provide safe, reliable and efficient transportation to students, so when students arrive at the school they are ready to learn.

 

Traffic hazard factors and distance are the two primary criteria used to establish the walking distance areas. Our intent is to consistently identify bus stops in neighborhoods on the consideration of safety, efficiency, cost, and shortest overall ride times. Bus stops are central to where all of the students are coming from. Student walk criteria to a bus stop is up to two city blocks (one block is 900 – 1200 feet in length) which the school district uses 850 feet times two, which equals 1,700 feet in length.

 

Some bus stops are at specific home addresses on very busy roads. We generally do not send buses into cul-de-sacs or dead-end roads that are two blocks in length or shorter (equals 1,700 feet) because this follows the walk criteria for all students walking to and from a bus stop location. To continue to ensure safety and limit risk, we will continue turning buses around in cul-de-sacs on a case by case basis. While we understand changes may be an inconvenience for some, we appreciate flexibility with this. Some of the criteria we considered to determine stops and turnarounds include length of cul-de-sac, size of cul-de-sac, private property, efficiency, turn lanes, locations, and more.

 

ROCORI Public Schools, Voigt School Bus Service, and Richmond Bus Service vehicles do not travel on private property. By law, school buses must also have at least 100 feet for 35 mph or less and at least 300 feet for 35 mph or more between bus stops (determined by a road’s speed limit). Increasing the frequency of school bus stops increases the dangers for an accident because of impatient motorists. Additional stops also lengthen student ride time to and from school.

 

1. School buses will use the eight-light system and stop arm at all stops in the School District unless the exception is made in policy or the stop is documented with an explanation. In order to properly operate the eight-light system, all bus stops need to be made within MN State Law.

 

2. Buses serving students with disabilities may stop while using their 4-way hazard lights only at house stops where it takes an extended period of time to load/unload the student. At these stops the bus will pull over to the curb at the driveway and the student will not be allowed to cross the roadway. District vehicles will not go into the student’s driveway, due to the hazard of backing out and getting stuck due to the weather or driveway conditions. The bus horn will not be used to announce arrival.

 

3. Buses will not generally travel down cul-de-sacs unless the vehicle is picking up handicapped children. Backing a school bus is a dangerous maneuver. A full-sized bus needs 120 feet to safely turn and most cul-de-sacs are only 90 feet wide.

 

Parents who have a student(s) in Preschool thru 1st grade are required, by the District, to have an adult within view of the bus driver when the student is being dropped off after school, unless the student is walking home with an older sibling. If the driver does not see an adult, your student will be brought back to the School and must be picked up. If you are running late or something happens that you will not be at the stop on time please contact the Transportation office so that we can help out the best we can with the situation.

 

The school district’s transportation department is the only authority that can make changes to bus routes and stops. School bus drivers do not have the authority to make changes to routes or student pickup / drop off locations.

 

MyRide360 is an application for parents / students to use that provides a “proximity arrival time” to your child(s) scheduled bus stop. If parents and students are using this application, transportation can also send out a message to all users of a specific route if there is a delay on that specific route.

 

MyRide360 bus physical locations on the map can have delays on your mobile device by your device settings and all the data being transferred from the bus, GPS software, district servers and your device reaching for updates (it is usually slightly behind the true physical location). The “proximity arrival time” should be used for accurate arrival times to a scheduled bus stop.

 

Information on how to download and use this application is found on the ROCORI website under transportation services.