Cleveland school buses have a 'ghost rider' problem - Signal Cleveland

Parents of Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) students recently received an automated phone call from the district’s transportation services last week asking if their child still needed transportation to and from school.

The district said it was trying to identify “ghost riders,” or a student who is eligible for bus transportation but doesn’t use the service.

“Ghost riders” are common, said Eric Taylor, executive director of transportation at CMSD.

“I can route a bus and it will have 48 students on it. But in actuality, the ridership is usually around 20 to 25 [students],” Taylor said. “That’s not in all cases, but it’s in a lot of cases.”

The district is beginning to survey parents through calls to gather information about the number of students who are opting in for bus services for the next school year. The effort comes at a time when the district is looking to close its $168 million budget deficit.

Each bus costs more than $60,000 per year to operate, Taylor said. Those expenses cover the driver, fuel, maintenance, insurance and other costs.

“The more families that we can identify that are not using transportation services, the more we can reduce [spending on buses],” Taylor said.

The first round of calls to parents went out April 26.

Taylor said the district’s transportation department received roughly 5,000 responses from parents. That leaves about 25,000 still to reach. The next call is scheduled for May 20.

Signal Cleveland answers your questions about the calls.

What if I opt out of bus service at the start of the year but need it later?

Families may choose to opt out, but that does not necessarily mean they are opting out for the year, Taylor said. If a family’s car breaks down or the family is otherwise suddenly without transportation, parents can still enroll their kid into bus services.