No More Free Rides for Northridge

Northridge families who have enjoyed free school bus rides to Fellows Elementary School since the 1990s will have until September to decide whether they would like to walk or pay for the service, the Ames Tribune reports.

Parents were notified of the school district's decision by letter, according to the report.

State law requires school districts to provide transportation for elementary school students who live more than two miles away from their school. The Northridge neighborhood is a little more than a mile from the school according to Google Maps.

Some of the neighborhood's newest families have already been paying for the service and the district wanted to clear up the discrepancy, the article said.

One mother told the Ames Tribune that she would have to pay $800 if her three children want to continue riding to the school this year.

The most direct route between the neighborhood and the school, would lead Northridge kids down 24th Street, past George Washington Carver Avenue through the intersection with Stange Road and past railroad tracks, which are typically active in the morning.

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