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ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) will take a unique approach to student transportation for the upcoming school year after their bus vendor abruptly dropped out in March.

Over the last few years, the district has been dealing with bus driver shortages, leading to late buses and interrupted service. Missouri Central cut ties with the district after its drivers walked off the job earlier this spring in protest of racism.

The new plan, passed unanimously by the board Tuesday, includes hiring 19 vendors with a mishmash fleet of traditional yellow buses, ride-share vehicles, passenger vans, and shuttles to get students to school.

The plan aims to reduce the number of routes from last year, as the district said it doesn’t have the capacity to handle the 228 routes they had previously.

“We need to reduce routes in order to get us to a place to provide service to those in need in the fall,” said Ashley Davies, a consultant for SLPS who put together the transportation plan.

Under the plan, some high school students who need transportation, estimated to be around 1,000 kids, will receive bus passes and take public transportation through Metro Transit to get to class. All high schools will now start at 7:15 a.m., which is 50 minutes earlier for four high schools.

The plan also involves students walking farther on average to their bus stops, to consolidate stops. The longer trek, along with some students taking Metro Transit, led some board members to worry about safety.

“You have to really consider where students are going to be walking because they’ll be walking through what people call the turf, their neighborhood, and students are going to be very much afraid,” said school board member Donna Jones.

All schools will have at least a minor change in start and end times, with the difference ranging from 5 to 50 minutes.

Parents are encouraged to opt their child out if they do not need SLPS transportation, as the district says it costs $9 dollars per student, per day, regardless of whether they’re on the bus.

Davies said a parent communication plan is being worked on that includes targeted communication to parents, along with posting online and on social media about the changes.

Board member Emily Hubbard emphasized that the communication needs to be robust.

“Historically, we have said we’re going to communicate, and there are still very confused and angry parents,” said Hubbard.

Some parents worry about their kids’ well-being with the plan.

“It seems like a big safety risk, especially for young kids,” said Amanda Nelson, an SLPS parent.

Other board members worry about high school students getting to class on time due to the earlier start time. Hubbard emphasized giving the kids a good breakfast as motivation.

To help provide security, some Metro buses will have security officers on them. We’ve reached out to Metro Transit for more details, and they say they’re still working through the details.

They are also soliciting volunteers to help at bus stops.