There is a hectic scene unfolding daily at BMS’s main driveway entrance. Buses try to find their way through long lines of cars driven by parents jockeying for position to pick up or drop off their students.
This scene is currently going on in Bedford Middle School.

Because buses are having trouble leaving Bedford due to the car traffic, students are arriving home much later than the scheduled times. Late arrivals home may lead to conflicts with after school practices and activities.

“It gets interesting when we have buses trying to get up our driveway as cars are trying to go down the driveway in the afternoon,” said Dr. Rosen.

The school district has noticed a slight increase in the number of students who are being driven home from school, rather than taking the bus because of the downward trend in gas prices. Since the beginning of the school year, over 95 percent of the buses have been 50 to 70 percent full as opposed to completely full.

These factors narrow down to one: many students and parents are finding the bus to be unsuitable for them; they see it as either inconvenient or unwelcoming.

“The bus is noisy and loud; I like calmness,” Mia Wallace, grade 6, explains. Many students feel similarly, so driving to and from school is an increasingly popular option.

“The bus ride is an entire 20 minutes,” Vivian Coda, grade 6, points out, and the delay to get out of the lot makes the ride even longer.

Many parents feel that their kids are unhappy with buses and their arrival home, so they think they’re doing the right thing by driving their kids.

So buses are late because people are choosing cars because buses are late. Welcome to an everlasting downward spiral; it’s a chicken and egg situation, where you don’t know which came first: parents driving students or buses being late.

Dr. Rosen has pointed out the efforts the school and district have made trying to ease congestion.
“In the past, BMS has put up signs directing drivers to pull forward, to not park in the fire zone, and to respect walkways and handicapped parking spaces.” Dr. Rosen said. He also pointed out how five years ago, parents used to park in the fire lane which made it difficult for emergency vehicles to gain proper access to the school entrance.

“We have also tried a variety of patterns and using staff members to help manage traffic flow. Three years ago, we added designated visitor parking spots as well. Most recently, we added barriers to force all car traffic in the afternoon to leave by way of Wakeman Road. This has helped immensely with both car traffic and bus traffic,” said Dr. Rosen.

The new measures have helped, but the some still believe it can do better.

When talking with Staff Corporals Ashley Del Vecchio and Alan D’Amura, they agreed, saying, “A large volume of cars are coming into one centralized area at Bedford at one time. These days, more kids are getting driven to school by parents than taking the buses. I see it. School buses get to Staples before Bedford, so they are constantly rushing to get to Bedford. When they mix with cars, North Avenue becomes a massive traffic congestion.”

The officers call North Avenue a “main artery,” and said that it is worse than other locations in town since it is a primary route in Westport.

The police also proposed a possible solution to the issue.

Officer Del Vecchio pointed out that, “Unlike other towns, Westport doesn’t have school resource officers to assist with traffic. These people could help to manage and control the traffic, getting it to flow a lot more smoothly. They also help with things such as enforcing parking violations and issuing tickets in no parking zones and fire lanes.”

They believe that Westport should acquire these officers and possibly help resolve the Bedford traffic issue.