Wake County public school system bus route data for AY 2023-24

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published research in 2014 that
recommended later school start times (after 8:30 AM) for adolescents to
promote their health and academic success. Wake County Public School
System (WCPSS) is the largest school district in North Carolina, with
nearly 200 schools and over 160,000 students, and all its middle school
and high school students start school at 8:30 AM or earlier. In the
2023-2024 school year, a national bus driver shortage made daily student
transportation challenging and delayed the school board’s ability to
prioritize school start time changes. This study used a mathematical
optimization model following a Bin Packing approach to minimize the number
of buses required to complete all the routes in the nine sub-districts
within Wake County. Scenarios that changed the school start times to abide
by AAP recommendations were generated and tested using bus route
information from the 2023-2024 school year. Results show that areas with a
higher concentration of magnet and special schools require a greater
increase in the number of buses needed to swap elementary and high school
start times. The results also indicate significant interactions between
the sub-districts, which challenge WCPSS’s ability to logistically isolate
a sub-district to use as a case study for start time changes. This
research investigates the current relationship between transportation
requirements and school start times. It provides analysis that could
inform decision-making and planning as WCPSS hires more bus drivers and
pursues the best outcomes for its students.