Karen R. Avery - Comments

Docket ID: FTA-2008-0015 I live in Oakland, Ca. where a huge number of students use buses provided by AC Transit to come to school. Many of our schools are not on regular bus lines and there is no other way for these children to get to school. It is not possible for all the parents to drive their students to school. Often the children attend schools in different neighborhoods from their houses. In particular, one of the high schools is in the hills but a majority of the students come from the flatlands. 22 buses serve this school. There is no regular bus service which can serve these students. It would be an extremely long walk for them. The private bus services don't want to take these kids because they live in difficult urban neighborhoods. What will happen is that the private schools, which also use the supplemental services provided by AC Transit, will get the private bus services to take their students to and from school and the public school children will be left to their own devices.That will result in kids not coming to school or deciding to go to a school which may not serve their needs. The Oakland school district is thousands of dollars in debt and can in no way afford its own bus service. What works in one city may not in another. I urge you to reconsider this proposal.