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TUSD Bus drivers prepare for first day of school

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Posted 8:46 AM 7/31/2012 : TUSD bus drivers prepare for first day of school

TUCSON-In just a couple of days TUSD students will head back to class and the district wants to avoid some of the bus transportation issues it experienced at the start of last school year.

For the past few days bus drivers like Michelle Burley have been practicing their routes.  "It helps a lot because the first day of school everybody's excited and you'll know where you're going," Burley says. 

Last year the district took a lot of calls from parents who said the bus never picked their child up at their stop.  "We had so many phone calls and an older phone system, so it swamped our system," TUSD Transportation Director Paul Larson says. 

The district took steps to make sure that doesn't happen again.  For the first time ever it required parents to register their children for transportation by May 15.  That allowed the district to send out letters this month, informing parents of their child's bus route.  "We've had more time to deal with adjustments as people have called in," Larson says. 

TUSD also has a new phone system in place that can handle more calls.  "If we can reduce the phone traffic at schools, then they can concentrate on just on getting organized and getting started," Larson says.

It also means less confusion for drivers like Burley.  "It's giving us a chance to be ready for the first day of school," Burley says. 

Larson says there are still a couple hundred students who haven't received their bus routes yet because they didn't register on time.  They should find out their route in two to three weeks.

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