Want Your Kid to Ride the Bus? This School Year, You'll Pay More

If your kids ride a school bus in Temecula, you’ll need to sign up starting July 24. And you’ll need to pay.

This coming school year, parents will pay more. The district recently raised the cost of annual bus passes from $520 to $550 per student, making Temecula's fee-based school bus program one of the most expensive in the state.

Temecula Unified School District offers the fee-based program to students who live more than 1.25 (aerial) miles from their home elementary school, 2.5 miles from their home middle school, or 3.25 miles from their home high school. (View radius maps.)

But not everyone can get a bus ride.

According to the district, buses only are available for those attending Crowne Hill Elementary School, Tony Tobin Elementary School, Vail Elementary School, Bella Vista Middle School, Temecula Middle School, Vail Ranch Middle School, Great Oak High School, and Temecula Valley High School. (If a child at Alamos or Vintage elementary schools needs a bus ride to or from the Glen Oaks area, district officials say the child must attend Crowne Hill Elementary. Call 951.506.7984 for details.)

For a round-trip annual pass, the cost is $550 per child. The district offers other options, such as payments per month, rides just one way, or per semester.

When the school board hiked the fees in early June, Lori Ordway-Peck, the assistant superintendent of business services, said the increase was necessary because the state severely underfunds Temecula's transportation due to a technicality of the stipulations under which the district was incorporated. "It's a very unfair system," she said then.

Reduced rates also are available for those who qualify. Those who want to apply for reduced rates, however, should be prepared to share their 2011 federal income tax returns, according to the district.

Find out more about the fees here. Before signing up, make sure you have the forms you need. You can prepay online. But you cannot get a bus pass online.

District officials emphasize that every student must be present when signing up, because each school bus rider will receive a photo ID bus pass. Before anyone boards a bus, that person will need that bus pass, according to the district.

Here’s the signup schedule:
Signups will be at the TVUSD Transportation Office , 40516 Roripaugh Rd., Temecula, which is near Chaparral High School, according to the bus office.
TUESDAY - FRIDAY JULY 24– 27
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Temecula Middle School
Vail Elementary School
MONDAY - FRIDAY JULY 30-AUGUST 3
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Temecula Valley High School
Bella Vista Middle School
Crowne Hill Elementary School
MONDAY - FRIDAY AUGUST 6–10
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Great Oak High School
Vail Ranch Middle School
Tony Tobin Elementary School
The bus pass office will be closed and applications not accepted from Aug. 13-17, district officials said. Beginning August 20, office hours will be 7:30 - 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. The office will be closed when school sites are not in session.