ROCHESTER — Rochester City School District students who use orange and yellow bus passes will be restricted to Express Transfer Service, a move that began last month to reduce loitering and other incidents downtown where students would wait to transfer buses on the Regional Transit Service prior to the switch.
The change only affects students who use the passes for the morning ride to school, according to district officials, and comes as a result of a planning session between the school district, RTS and the Rochester Police Department.
More than 10,000 students in grades seven through 12 use public transportation daily. The effort should help curb the "fighting and tumultuous behavior" students were engaging in prior to the change, Chief James Sheppard stated.
"The changes to the student bus pass rules were geared toward increasing the safety of our students and the overall community," said Jerome Underwood, the district’s senior director of operations. "The adjustments require increased responsibility on the part of some of our students — they will have to be on time in the morning. … We firmly believe that giving them this responsibility will aid their maturation as young men and women as we help prepare them for college and employment."
For more information, visit www.rgrta.com.
