Rocky View School bus fees will be a little higher for the 2016/17 school year.

Fees will become more equalized this upcoming school year; rural fees being raised $20, urban fees by $10, while still keeping a family maximum for those family's with 3 or more children.

Colleen Munro, RVS Board Chair comments that more money was granted for rural students in the past but those numbers are changing.

"We have few rural kids and more urban kids, it made sense to equalize it."

With the Provincial Government not increasing transportation grant rates, introducing the carbon levy, increasing costs of contractors, and most likely the increasing costs of fuel; the transportation budget will remain under pressure.

"There's lots of unknowns in the transportation budget and that is why we keep the reserve that we do so we have got some buffer. Fees are only going up by that amount of money because we are tapping into that transportation reserve this year and using it as a buffer."

The RVS board continues to research the implementation of triple busing as a cost saving measure for the future, shares Munro.

"Triple busing is still being worked on in the background. Our board direction to the transportation committee and the transportation department was to keep exploring how we can be more efficient with our busing."

If fees were not raised this year, the transportation department would be facing a deficit of $378,408.

2016/17 School Bus Fees

  Per Student
Max. Per Family
Kindergarten $0 --
Gr. 1 - 12 Rural Resident Students $220 $440
Gr. 1 - 12 Urban Resident Students $230 $460
Programs of Choice - programs which qualify for Alberta Education transportation funding - French Immersion. $230 $460
Programs of Choice - programs which do not qualify for Alberta Education transportation funding. $230 $460
Shuttle Services Between Springbank Middle and Springbank High School $230 $460
Non-Resident Students attending: Beiseker, Kathyrn, Indus,Westbrook, Crossfield, W.G. Murdoch $220 $440
Non-Resident Student accessing a school bus inside RVS boundaries $405 N/A
Non-Resident Students accessing a school bus outside the boundary of RVS $775 N/A
Rural Transportation Duplication Service Fee Applicable fee charged for transportation to both residences.