How many students ride a school bus in East Tennessee? (WBIR)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As you head out the door in the mornings, you're likely used to seeing yellow school buses on the road and congestion around schools. You might have wondered: how are students actually getting to school?
10News compiled data from all across East Tennessee to see how many students ride the bus versus how many are driven by parents in our area.
According to data from the organization School Bus Fleet, during the 2023-24 school year about 47% of public K-12 students in Tennessee used their district’s transportation option. Narrowing the focus specifically to East Tennessee paints a similar picture.
Data compiled from districts across the region show that ridership varies by district, with an average of 42% of students choosing to ride the bus in East Tennessee. On average, buses in the region operate at about 81% capacity.
In Anderson County, Transportation Director Johnny Golden oversees logistics and safety for the district’s bus system, serving as a liaison between bus contractors and principals. The county contracts with five different companies to run 46 routes.
"It's about safety of every kid," Golden shared.
Golden says safety has been his top priority for the past decade in the role.
"As far as what I do every day is I just go around, drive around, I mean, drive, drive, drive, looking for certain situations as far as weather, road conditions, cell phone rings like crazy," he explained.
Out of approximately 5,900 students in Anderson County, Golden says around 2,200 ride the bus each day.
"The buses opportunity is always there," Golden said. "We offer that for every kid, every students, every day. So it's their option."
Over the past decade, Golden says he's seen ridership levels fluctuate.
"Honestly, it's up and down," Golden elaborated. "A lot of parents want to drive their kids to school."
10News reached out to the Tennessee Department of Education's (TDOE) Transportation Team, and found that is true for trends across the state.
"While student ridership fluctuates from year to year, the department has not seen a decrease across the state," a TDOE spokersperson wrote in an email. "Contributing factors vary and is dependent upon the individual district."
In Knox County, Lora Repka says her son started riding the bus when he was six years old.
"It has been wonderful. He loves it," Repka explained about her son's experience. "The first day he got on, off, had the best time, so we've been doing it ever since."
Repka lives in West Knox County and says many other students at her son's stop also ride the bus.
"There's 11 kids at our bus stop in the morning, so it's a thing here. Yeah, it's really fun for them, so they're always looking for their friends," Repka shared. "I honestly don't understand why you wouldn't take advantage of something that is provided to them unless there was some specific thing that you needed to not be doing it."
For Kelsey Warner, that reason is a lack of reliability.
"I don't want to be just wondering, did the bus come yet? Is it going to come at all?" Warner explained about the bus pick-up and drop-off for her Knox County middle schooler. "And kind of just that worrying."
Warner says her son initially planned to ride the bus on his first day of sixth grade.
"I was actually really excited about the bus because I rode the bus as a kid and it was kind of cool fun experience, plus not having to worry about getting him to and from school was really attractive," Warner said.
However, Warner says they immediately experienced problems.
"The first day, we ran down there to the bus stop and we're waiting and waiting and waiting and the bus never came, so we drove him to school and then kind of found out that it's an issue with the buses coming on time," Warner said. "Sometimes there is no bus and another bus will pick up the route, yeah, and it's just he was going to be late to school, like, every day."
Warner says her husband now drives their son to school each morning, and her mother picks him up in the afternoon.