As the Miami-Dade Public Schools district prepares to launch a new school year on Monday, August 22, the Department of Transportation will be doing a dry run of its school bus fleet. The 1,170 buses will be undertaking the massive operation of transporting nearly 55,000 Miami-Dade school children daily via 975 routes in the county.
This year, M-DCPS is continuing with two initiatives in transportation: Flex Stops and GPS for school buses.
The Flex Stops program allows for magnet students who do not reside within the Transportation Service Zone area but are near the route of a bus with available seating capacity. The program is created near a school or park and will pick up several students at a time. It is established based on the number of magnet students residing in the area.
This pilot program will be expanded in the 2016-2017 school year through the adjustment of Transportation Service Zone.
In 2015-2016, approximately 426 school buses were equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) units. Beginning in October, an additional 426 buses will be equipped with GPS units (bringing the total number of buses in the fleet with GPS units up to 852). This will greatly improve the Transportation Department’s ability to keep track of the whereabouts of buses and respond to parents with accurate, timely information.