School buses are geared up and ready to go for the start of school, Toledo Public Schools officials said Thursday.

In 2010, TPS stopped busing high school students and reduced transportation for elementary students to the state minimum of a 2-mile radius around schools. 

It was an unpopular move and the district saw a corresponding drop in enrollment.

District leaders repeatedly said they wanted to increase transportation services, but didn’t have the money.

But last year, when the district sought approval of a five-year, 5.8 mill levy, TPS officials said those transportation cuts would be reversed if the levy passed. Voters approved the levy.

“We are bringing transportation back to where it was before,” Toledo Board of Education President Bob Vasquez said.

The district expects that about 11,000 students will take either TPS or TARTA buses to school this year, an increase of about 50 percent over the 2014-2015 school year, Superintendent Romules Durant said. That will mean increased attendance and improved safety, he said.

Elementary students will take yellow school buses, while high school students will be given TARTA passes.

On Thursday, the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority board of trustees approved a two-year deal with TPS to bus high school students. A joint TPS-TARTA statement said that the contract calls for TPS to pay TARTA $4.25 million in the first year, with a rate re-opener in the second year.

James Gee, the transit authority’s general manager, said payment for similar service during the 2016-2017 school year is subject to negotiation, but the terms approved on Thursday provide for the school district to pay TARTA a $150,000 penalty if the service contract for that year falls below $1 million.

TARTA has obtained 44 second-hand buses from transit authorities across Ohio, has hired additional drivers and mechanics, and has promoted part-time drivers to full-time to beef up its operating capacity for the school-related service, Mr. Gee and Tom Metzger, TARTA’s transportation superintendent, told the board.

Changes in bus routes will mean fewer high school students must head downtown for transfers, Mr. Gee said.

The transit authority’s 300 daily bus-hours of TPS service will be in the form of special routes geared toward taking students to and from school. By law, however, anyone may board those buses if they pay the appropriate fare.

To transport elementary school children, TPS has purchased 16 new and 25 used buses, and hired 13 full-time drivers. The new levy is expected to generate more than $13 million a year for TPS, about $10 million a year of which will go toward general operating expenses, including busing.

TPS must provide similar transportation services to parochial and charter schools in the district. While a TPS-TARTA statement said that parochial and charter school students will receive bus service, Chief Business Manager Jim Gant said that won’t mean the district busing those students, but instead one of the entities will provide subsidies to private and charter schools.

The first day of school for elementary students is Aug. 25. Information on elementary school bus routes will be available Aug. 17 from each school. Mr. Durant said high school students can get busing information when they pick up their class schedules.

Staff writer David Patch contributed to this report.

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.

First Published August 7, 2015, 4:00 a.m.