Roosevelt Island School Bus Stop Requires 11 Students Per School

School Bus Image from brickshools.org

More information on the recently announced school bus service for Roosevelt Island children. John Moore, City Council Member Jessica Lappin's community representative, does some further investigation and provides this additional information on school bus service for Roosevelt Island children.

The word from the DOE is that it takes 11 kids to create a bus stop. That is to say, if there are 11 kids on Roosevelt Island attending a particular Manhattan school (i.e. Lower Lab) then a bus stop can be established.

Parents can opt not to use the bus and so would be eligible to continue receiving Metro cards for transportation. However, they seem to be planning on going back to offering either a Metro card or a school bus, no using a card to get to Manhattan and taking a bus from there

As for the length of the trip, DOE policy says that no bus routes can be longer than 5 miles. This should limit the time kids spend on the bus, but it’s not yet clear how long the trip from the Island will take.

UPDATE 1:45 - In response to this comment by reader:

If the 5 miles limit is a hard limit then Lower Lab will not have a bus to Roosevelt Island. According to Google Maps it is 5.3 miles from our Gristedes to Lower Lab on E96th St and 3rd Ave.

The distance from Roosevelt Island to 2nd Ave alone is already more than 3 miles.

Mr Moore clarifies DOE's 5 mile policy:

The DOE is using some discretion for Roosevelt Island. The 5 mile limit was why the Island was always denied for a bus route in the past. However, given the variety of transportation issues facing the Island, the DOE agreed to give some leeway on that rule to set up a bus route for the Island.