Alexandria’s effort to ditch school buses and put high school students on city-run DASH buses is not without controversy.
On Tuesday, City Council Member Abdel Elnoubi expressed frustration on how Alexandria City Public Schools has addressed the issue.
“I’m really frustrated of how our friends at ACPS have been approaching the conversation,” Elnoubi said. “All I’m hearing is why we can’t do this, versus how can we figure this out?”
Elnoubi was referencing Monday’s (March 24) meeting of the City Council and School Board Subcommittee, where ACPS and DASH discussed the issue with Mayor Alyia Gaskins, City Council Member John Taylor Chapman, School Board Chair Michelle Rief, and Board Member Chris Harris.
In that meeting, ACPS Chief Operating Officer Alicia Hart outlined the challenges behind the move. She said that the Virginia Department of Education mandates the school system to complete annual reviews of bus routes and outline vehicular and pedestrian safety hazards.
“We are also regulated in terms of how we load and discharge our pupils from the bus,” Hart said.
Gaskins said at the meeting that if the city pursues putting high schoolers on DASH, there should be a community engagement process.
“We probably have to have a dedicated page or some sort of site to go through how to do engagement related to this,” Gaskins said.
Hart also said that VDOE is looking into mandating a stop-arm camera program to ticket all vehicles that don’t follow stop-arm signals.
“We do need to make sure that all of our busses that transport pupils are equipped with traffic warning devices,” Hart said. “Those are the stop-arms that come out from the side of the busses… If that is mandated, then all of us would have to be equipped with those cameras, and we would have to work in conjunction with Alexandria Police Department on the citation process with that.”
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, Gaskins said that the School Board and Council need to be willing to explore the issue.
“I want to be honest with the Council,” Gaskins said. ” This has been a bit of a challenging process… We’re confident that we’re going to be able to bring some recommendations back to both bodies, but I would encourage folks who haven’t been paying attention to the conversation to take some time to watch the meetings to see how the dialog is unfolding.”
Elnoubi was previously a School Board member before becoming a Councilman in January. That same month, he and Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley introduced a memo asking city staff to explore the feasibility of ditching school buses for high school students and putting them on DASH buses.
Elnoubi said that the Council might have to go over the School Board’s head to make a final determination.
“I guess the council will have a decision to make on how we move forward on this if we don’t get the information that we’re looking for,” Elnoubi said, “because, at one point, we just have to say, enough is enough, and this is dragging on for too long.”
Will it work? ACPS says it’s too early to tell
DASH went fare-free in 2020, three years after launching a free student ride program. The transit system’s CEO Josh Baker says that the potential move is an opportunity.
“If DASH can be a solution for more transportation needs, and if schools is one of those, I want to make sure we’re positioned to do it,” Baker told ALXnow. “I see it as an opportunity to collaborate even more beyond what we’ve already done.”
The 40-year-old transit agency currently operates 12 bus routes and the King Street Trolley, averaging 17,000 free weekday boardings and 5.3 million passengers in fiscal year 2024, according to a presentation made to City Council last month. The fleet includes 101 active buses, with an annual operating subsidy of nearly $35 million. DASH employs more than 230 people, including about 200 bus drivers.
“We need to sit down and just sort of understand and overlay essentially what dash is doing today, and what ACPs is doing today, and how do those two interact or correlate?” Baker said. “How do they differ and and what are the gaps? I think that’s the very simple way of talking about this question.”
In the meantime, ACPS says that it’s “too early to determine whether transitioning high school transportation to DASH would be beneficial.”
According to the school system:
Thank you for your inquiry. At this time, it is too early for us to determine whether transitioning high school transportation to DASH would be beneficial. While we understand the City Council’s interest in exploring alternative transportation models, any such decision must be grounded in a thorough, data-driven analysis. The School Board is committed to ensuring that any decisions made reflect the best interests of our students, their safety and the needs of the community.
We are also aware that this has already caused some concern for our bus drivers since they are hearing about this in the media. We want to assure Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) bus drivers that we greatly value their service to the Alexandria City community and are committed to including their voice in these discussions. It is crucial that we take time to gather the necessary information and community feedback before moving forward with any changes.
We look forward to working collaboratively with the City Council and other stakeholders to conduct a thorough review over the coming months. The superintendent presented the proposed FY 2026 Combined Funds Budget at the Thur., Jan. 23, 2025, Alexandria City School Board meeting, which outlines ACPS’ transportation needs for the upcoming school year. It doesn’t include impacts from City Council’s proposed analysis of utilizing DASH transportation for high school students. In addition, the FY 2026 Budget was approved on Feb. 20, 2025, by the School Board.
Washington, D.C. is the nearest jurisdiction that transports high school students on public Metro buses and trains.
DASH and ACPS will reconvene to discuss the issue at the next City Council and School Board Subcommittee meeting on Monday, April 28.
