07 Attachment 3 - Public Comment Received bwtween 1101 am March 2 and 1100 am March 3 2020From:Monica
To:SchoolBus
Subject:School bus issue today...
Date:Monday, March 2, 2020 2:51:02 PM
Hello,
My 5th grader rides the bus, and this week is conference week so the bus
should be on a minimum day schedule. My son is usually home by 12:40 on
minimum days and was not home until 1:15pm today. I was extremely
worried since I could not get ahold of someone from the town or the bus
company. After frantically calling and leaving messages, the bus company
called me back and said that the driver was "out of range" so could not be
reached. Of course, this just added to the worry. I was walking over to the 85
and Oka bus stop, when I see the bus drive through our neighborhood,
which it never has done that before nor is it supposed to. The driver would
not let the kids off the bus, which is understandable for liability reasons, but
then says he needs to go to the JCC first. He is supposed to drop off kids at
Oka and 85 first. When I finally got my son from the JCC, the kids all said
that he went the wrong way, taking them over by Vasona Park and by Daves
Elementary School. I would think driving the kids all over Los Gatos on an
hour long bus ride would also be a huge liability. They get out of school at
12:10pm, and did not arrive to the JCC until 1:15pm.
I'm not surprised that the bus is not succeeding after issues like this, and
this is hardly the first issue.The town seems like it has already given up of
the whole bus concept and no one cares if other people's children are missing
for 30 minutes. At the end of this year or next, the North 40 housing is going
to open up and we all know how much that will impact traffic. It will be a
huge mistake to discontinue the bus service. Student Transport Authority
has let us down time and time again, is there not a way to find a more
dependable bus company? Also, the town has not been communicating with
the bus company about the conference weeks, minimum days etc. I know I'm
not the only parent that is very disappointed at how this is being handled.
I'm not sure what else I can do except voice my frustration and
disappointment.
Thank you for your time,
Monica Park
ATTACHMENT 3
From:moshe shaham
To:SchoolBus; Ying Smith
Subject:Re: School Bus Service in Year 2020/21
Date:Monday, March 2, 2020 3:17:06 PM
Hi Ying,
Thanks a lot for your support so far.
I can certainly understand the budget pressure and the issues to justify continuing service
based on the current occupancy rates.
In your packet, you mentioned that the town is considering two different paths: 1. Discontinue
the service 2. Make some significant changes to the service for 20/21.
I was thinking that option 2 might be a viable one, if you can further mine the bus riding data
and find out which neighborhoods have better utilization of the service and limit the service to
only these neighborhoods. Would shortening the ride and perhaps having a smaller bus help
to reduce the cost and justify the continuation of the service? I am not familiar with the
underline cost breakdown for the bus service but wanted to suggest a possible solution.
Best,
Moshe
On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 9:16 AM SchoolBus <SchoolBus@losgatosca.gov> wrote:
February 21, 2020
Subject: School Bus Service in Year 2020/21
Dear School Bus Parents:
As many of you know, the School Bus Pilot Program is funded through June 2020. The Town
of Los Gatos is providing this service as one piece of a multi-faceted approach towards
relieving congestion around schools. After running the Pilot for just over one year, the
program’s ridership has demonstrated that it has not achieved the congestion relief goal.
Furthermore, the low ridership numbers and the high cost challenge the program’s viability
in the long term. You can find more information, including regular reports on the program
status, on the Town’s website: www.losgatosca.gov/schoolbus.
The Town is preparing its Fiscal Year 2020/21 Budget and will need to make a decision on
the School Bus Pilot Program. The recommendation on whether to continue the Pilot next
year is scheduled on the March 3 agenda for the Town Council’s consideration. Staff isrecommending discontinuing the School Bus Pilot Program in Fiscal Year 2020/21.
Although staff understands the value of this service to many of you, we made the
recommendation in the context of balancing many transportation and mobility priorities the
Town is focusing on.
Staff presented two options for the Complete Streets and Transportation Commission’s
consideration at its February 13, 2020 meeting. The Commission voted to recommend the
option of discontinuing the School Bus Pilot Program in Fiscal Year 2020/21. The staff report
to the Commission provides details on the performance and the justifications for the staff
recommendation. We encourage you to review the agenda packet, available via this
link: https://www.losgatosca.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02132020-1647
The March 3 Town Council agenda will be available on the Town’s website
https://www.losgatosca.gov/13/Agendas-Minutes after February 28. If you wish to provide
input to the Town Council on this decision, please reply to this email. Please note that staff
will not be able to respond to individual questions or comments, but will forward them to
the Town Council for its consideration.
We’d like to thank you for your support of the School Bus Pilot Program.
Sincerely,
School Bus Pilot Program
--
-Moshe
From:Jenny Huang
To:SchoolBus
Subject:Continuation of the school bus service
Date:Monday, March 2, 2020 5:43:57 PM
Hi,
My 2 boys are students at Blossom Hill Elementary and Fisher Middle. We live in the Oka
neighborhood and have used the bus service since the beginning. Though we have not been
satisfied with the quality and consistency of the service, it has been an incredible time saver
for our family. I would like you to consider continuing the program. The traffic to the schools
in the morning has drastically reduced since the inception of the bus service. We are already
facing heavy traffic on Lark and LG Blvd and I'm dreading how it will increase when North
40 is populated.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jenny