As the student population grows one problem arises; student transportation amongst the open enrollment students has been an ongoing trend with no conclusion. Many students have to catch a ride, or uber to school. As this goes on many who use apps have to pay the daily cost instead of catching a public transit bus that would help student transportation get put to ease.
According to the Valley Metro website there are no routes or bus stops near the schools on Val Vista. With no public transit this can be a problem for many students; Perry has “around 800 students” that are open enrollment and typically “average 200 open enrollment students per class,” assistant principal Joe Greene stated.
With the amount of open enrollment students at our school alone there should be a public transit option for students who are out of bounds. However the district does not bus open enrollment students; but if the student is around a school bus stop and “If there is room on the bus I think there is a process by which they can request that and get on the bus,”Greene said.
Another way to alleviate the stress could be not only public transit, but the infamous Bird scooters that are all over the valley. These Bird scooters are mainly located in Mesa,Tempe, and Scottsdale. However, they’re scattered over the valley and yet have been around school; this could be a way to relieve the congestion of transportation for the students. But, “The valley metro has no certain stance on scooters and the new jump bikes that’s infiltrating different cities and different areas,” Brittany Hoffman Public information specialist for the Valley Metro said.
The Valley Metro does not have routes near the school because,“Currently it is up to the cities to decide the new routes to be implemented because they do source some of the funding towards these routes.” Hoffman says; she also states “It is not strictly the valley metro implementing new service in any area,” however the Valley Metro are, “Definitely in support of multilateral travel, that means people jumping on a park and ride and jumping on the light rail or they’re able to bike or ride to a bus stop and use that to get to their destination…” Hoffman explained .
The Valley Metro doesn’t have routes directly to the schools that surround Val Vista, “We have a lot of bus routes that run through the main chandler area but then it goes back to the city, in order for you guys (meaning Val Vista schools) to be implemented you would need to contact your city; whether that be the mayor or your district representative. But those are the people that decide they want more public transit in that area and then we would go through a study process and work together, the Valley Metro and the city to figure out if there are feasible ways to make those routes possible.” Hoffman vocalized; with this said there should be public transit available for students to lessen their commute and ease the stress of transportation.