Transportation FAQs

All items left on the bus shall be sent to the school office. Transportation does NOT have a lost and found area.

The maximum capacity of our standard school buses is anywhere from 65 to 77 passengers. This means that it is legal to have 77 students, no matter how large, riding on the bus. However, Eagle County School District recognizes the safety concerns and problems associated with loading buses to maximum capacity. The general guidelines used are:

• Grades K-8: three students to a seat
• Grades 9-12: two students to a seat

It is our intent to have an ideal comfortable seating for every student. However, to be fiscally efficient, some routes are more crowded than others, which means that some buses are at capacity. We constantly work to shift bus stops to different routes if possible to maximize space; however, most buses are very full. Standees or sitting on the floor will not be permitted under any circumstance.

The main answer, at least for school buses (virtually all research on buses and seatbelts has focused on school buses) is that seatbelts do not make school buses safer. Overall, travel on a school bus is the safest way to travel - 40 times safer than riding in a car - with only a handful of deaths occurring to passengers on school buses every year.

The explanation for the safety of school buses is explained by a concept called compartmentalization. In compartmentalization, the seats on the school bus are placed very close to each other and have high backs that are very padded. As a result, in an accident, the student would be propelled forward a very short distance into a padded seatback that in a way is like an early version of an airbag. This is why it is so important the students sit properly when riding to and from school. The rule is back to back, bottom to bottom. In addition, the fact that people sit high off the ground in school buses also adds to the safety, as the impact location with an automobile would occur beneath the seats.

The school bus is considered an extension of the classroom where students are responsible and accountable for their actions. Contact the dispatch office at 970-328-2744 to report any concerns. For actions that happen on the bus, the transportation department will handle the issue and apply appropriate disciplinary actions if necessary.

If you have a concern regarding the driving ability of your child's bus driver, contact Timothy Owsley, Transportation Director, at 970-328-1939.

Drivers are not able to stop and chat with parents for safety reasons. They are not only holding up traffic but have a strict schedule to follow to get all of their students to and from school.  Drivers have been instructed NOT to open the door for anyone they do not recognize unless students recognize the person. If this is not someone that the driver recognizes the driver will instruct the person to come to the driver’s window or drive to next stop if the driver feels unsafe. Drivers will give parents a transportation business card with the dispatcher and the director's phone numbers to call with questions or concerns.

No. For safety reasons, and to be fiscally responsible, the district currently uses safe, consolidated neighborhood locations as bus stops. Bus stop changes or additions are only made if there is a serious safety concern for the students. Any request for a change to a stop location or for the addition of a bus stop must be made through the scheduling department at 970-328-2744. After reviewing the request, the transportation department will decide whether the request will be approved or denied, and notification will be given to the person making the request, the school, and the bus operator.

The parent/guardian is responsible for the safety and conduct of the child/children on the way to and from the bus stop and while they are waiting at the bus stop.

If your child does not arrive home in the afternoon, the first step should be to contact the school to see if the child is still there. If the student is not at the school, the next step would be to contact the transportation dispatcher. The driver will be contacted to see if the child is on the bus or if perhaps the student has gotten off the bus at a location other than their assigned stop. If you cannot contact the school please contact the transportation dispatcher at 970-328-2744 and we will help you as much as possible.

Eating and drinking are not allowed on the bus for safety reasons such as:

• Some students have a very severe reaction to some foods such as peanut butter.
• A child could choke on a piece of food and with the high seat backs and noise on the bus, the driver may not be aware of the situation until it is too late.
• Left-over food and drink not only causes a mess, but also can attract bees and wasps. Many students have severe allergies to bee and wasp stings.

It is safer for everyone when the no eating and drinking rule is adhered to.

The decision to cancel school buses is a shared responsibility between the transportation director or assignee and the superintendent. The process incorporates real-time weather/road condition reports from a number of spotters throughout the district as well as the most current weather information available. Cancellation or delayed start information is relayed to local media and updated onto the www.eagleschools.net website by 6:00 a.m.

All weather decisions are relayed to the public no later than 6:00 a.m. Please check the Eagle County School District website or stations listed below for further emergency information.

KTUN – KKCH – KSKE – KQSE – KZYR - TV8 - ECO TV -  Channel 9/KUSA, - , Channel - 7/KMGH   Channel  - 4/KCNC -  Channel 2/WB2 -  KWGN - Channel 31 - Fox 31 - KOA/Radio 850 - Vail Daily.com

Unless a teacher with an ECSD ID (or one that the driver recognizes) is present to take the student off of the bus; or mom or dad comes to the bus and has an appropriate ID and student identifies that they are their parent the driver will take the student to their bus stop. Students MAY NOT get off of the bus without an approved adult while still on school property!

First, many of our buses are scheduled so that we have the highest number of students riding as possible. This makes it tough transporting anything other than the students and their backpacks to and from school safely. Backpacks are already pretty large and create tight seating quarters, even on buses where there are only two students per seat.

Second, we do have some routes that are not so crowded and we can allow instruments up to the size of a guitar (which really is almost too big) but anything larger than that is too much for other students to have to be seated with. Usually, the student with the extra item sits with the instrument next to them in the seat, by themselves, which takes a seat away from another student and means that some students will have to sit three per seat. While this is legal, it is not pleasant for the students that have to sit three to a seat just so another can bring an instrument. And that’s just one instrument. Imagine several.

Here are the safety issues that prevent us from being able to transport additional/larger items:

• In the event of a crash, the items are not secured and become objects that create more injury to students during the crash. Moreover, it prevents and//or blocks the evacuation path of students in the event of the need to be evacuated.
• If the bus is overly crowded the item/instrument would have to remain at the bus stop. We never know, from day to day, if the bus will be crowded or not. We are also not responsible for that item when left and they can be very expensive.
• How do we determine the number of large items allowed before we have to say no and then whom do we decide cannot bring a large item?

You can contact the Transportation Department at 970-328-2744. We will be happy to answer any questions or concerns.