It all started at Ballard High School and will be concluded this fall when the students in the last four high schools make their transition from using yellow buses to using King County Metro for transport to school.

The Seattle Public School District thinks this will not only save taxpayers money but will give students independence and flexible transportation for before and after school activities and off-campus events.

The district says that twice a day about 25,000 students are transported on buses provided by First Student Inc. and subcontractor Curtis Transportation and Laidlaw buses. However when renting out these buses they run into problems such as being late due to traffic, vehicle breakdown, substitute drivers and student management issues.

Beginning with Ballard and Franklin high schools, Metro Transit and the school district partnered to use public transportation in the 2006-2007 school year. The success from the program reduced the use of yellow buses making the system more cost effective, the district says.

"The Seattle Public Schools saves a lot through the program because a metro bus pass itself only costs us $27 per student a month for nine months while renting out a yellow bus will be raised to $275 to $300 per day next school year. That's an estimated cost savings of $230,000 for next year," said David Tucker, a school district spokesman.

Parents expressed worries over safety of their children at school board meetings and through e-mails, but the positive outcome of the program in its first year resulted in the school board extending the program to the to the remaining district seven high schools.

Students who live more than 2.5 miles from school are eligible for a metro bus pass and Metro has also added a few special routes to the existing services due to the number of students in certain area.

Since it's pilot year, three other high schools - Roosevelt, Rainier Beach and Chief Sealth - have incorporated the new system. The final schools are Cleveland, Garfield along with West Seattle high schools beginning in September. Nathan Hale had already moved its eligible students to Metro before the official program began - in the 2005-2006 school year.

Mike Beck, transit contract administrator of Metro Transportation said yellow buses will not disappear entirely from high school campuses because Metro found it did not have enough buses and service hours to handle all transportation. That means yellow buses will still be put on reserve to help supplement Metro services on occasion.

"Moving to Metro buses will allow West Seattle High School to change our start time to 8:10 a.m. next year," said West Seattle principal Bruce Bivins. "Many students, our PTA, and staff members all agreed that moving to a later start time would be beneficial for our teenage youth. This will allow for us to provide tutoring in the morning, run a "0" period if needed for scheduling conflicts, hold staff meetings prior to school starting, allow for students to sleep in (a benefit to the growing patterns and biorhythms of teenage youth), allowing for students to establish morning study times and study groups to prepare for the days learning activities and or assessments, permitting students the flexibility in choosing their transportation times to best meet the demands of their home and after-school needs and interests, and have students traveling to school when the sunlight is out for safety purposes."

The success of the transportation program has also shown in the number of Metro bus passes that are purchased since the program's first year in 2005. In the 2005-2006 school year an average of 1,777 passes were distributed amongst eligible students, this number has raised to 3,015 in 2006-2007 and now in its third year they have purchased 3,420 passes.

"We've had a good working relationship with the school district so far, and expect it to continue when students from West Seattle High begin riding Metro to and from campus," Beck said. As the cost of gas keeps rising, I think they'll be glad to see how much money they can save on transportation."

Allison may be reached at 206.932.0300 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.