San Lorenzo Valley Middle and High schools will begin the 2011-12 school year Tuesday, Aug. 23, and students who rely on the Santa Cruz Metro bus system to get to class will need to keep an eye on schedules that will change beginning Sept. 15.
Due to budget constraints, routes 35 and 35A that serve Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek, as well as route 34 in south Felton, will change times and see fewer daily buses.
SLV High Principal Michael Arredondo, said he worries that the changes in the bus scheduling could leave students waiting for extended periods of time for a ride home.
“We’ve sent (Santa Cruz Metro) our schedules, and hopefully they can accommodate us,” he said. “My hope is that we don’t leave kids stranded.”
The middle school’s classes are scheduled to begin at 8 each morning and end at 2:19 p.m., while high school classes begin at 8 a.m. and end at 2:31 p.m.
The full list of schedules and stops is online at www.scmtd.com. For our readers’ convenience, though, the Press-Banner has broken down the routes, planned changes and what they will mean for students:
n Route 33: This route, which runs only during the school year, serves the Glen Arbor, Zayante and Lompico communities and is not scheduled to change in September. Morning riders are taken to the Felton Faire stop at 7:24 a.m., where they can transfer to one of the Route 35 buses. The route’s afternoon run departs SLV High at 2:45 p.m.
n Route 34: This route, which serves the south Felton communities of Forest Lakes and downtown Felton, also runs only during the school year and arrives at the SLV High bus stop in the morning at 7:46 a.m. At the beginning of the school year, it is scheduled to leave SLV High at 2:40 p.m. Starting Sept. 15, however, the bus will not depart SLV High until 3:25 p.m., about an hour after classes let out. The morning trip will be unchanged.
n Routes 35 and 35A: These routes serve the entire San Lorenzo Valley along Highway 9 and Highway 236. For the first few weeks of the school year, a bus will leave SLV High in the afternoon roughly every eight minutes from between 2:25 and 3:03 p.m. In the mornings, a bus arrives at SLV High every five to 10 minutes between 7:24 and 7:59 a.m.
Student riders living at the far end of Boulder Creek — near Sylvan Avenue, the Mountain Store, Boulder Creek Golf and Country Club and the Bear Creek Road area — will have only one bus that will get them to classes on time.
As of Sept. 15, though buses will arrive and depart from SLV High at roughly the same time and frequency during school hours, north Boulder Creek service will get even more scarce.
To comment, e-mail reporter Joe Shreve at jo*@pr*********.com, call 438-2500 or post a comment at www.pressbanner.com.
