Lee's Summit R-7 School District administrators say they have come up with a plan to reduce the amount of time students spend riding on buses.
Some high school and middle school students spend about 50 to 55 minutes each way on buses. The district is looking at a plan to streamline bus stops.
"To decrease ride time, the only way to reduce that is to decrease the number of times the school bus stops," said Keith Henry, district transportation director.
The district is beginning with the biggest problem areas, like side streets and dead ends.
"How many times are we doubling up on our miles, as far as having the same bus cover the same area, or the same bus covering the same bus covering the same area because we're doing multiple loops through areas and neighborhoods?" Henry said.
The district is asking home owners associations and neighborhood groups to tell them the best places for buses to stop. The idea is to reduce stops without requiring kids to walk too far.
"The average walk distance to a bus stop is five hundredths of a mile," Henry said. "Even with the changes we're implementing, the average walk distance is 15 hundredths of a mile."
To put that into other terms, the average walk distance would go from about 264 feet to 792 feet, or the length of a couple of soccer fields.
A streamlined bus stop plan will be released in April or early May. The changes will start in the fall. Safety remains a top priority, Henry said.