The Bellevue School District has more than 115 buses, a full roster of bus drivers, fewer miles to traverse than other districts and the aid of King County Metro to shuttle around students, but is still running into a problem: Bellevue’s population density and resulting traffic.

The district’s transportation department and other officials have been charged with re-evaluating the busing plans and proposing multiple options for the next school year. Next month, the district will present the two plans to the community for feedback, one of which may include changes to elementary and middle school bell times.

A transportation report given at the Jan. 3 School Board meeting showed that the city’s growth has a notable impact on their operations.

Most district buses are sitting three students to a seat, which is acceptable under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration directives, but the district’s Transportation Director Mark Hazen admitted that can get a little crowded. The number of the bus routes the district is operating has increased from 73 to 91 over the last five years — a 24.6 percent growth. The district’s school bus parking lot is at full capacity, according to Hazen.

One of the possible solutions is changing the elementary and middle school bell times, though Hazen is already anticipating pushback from the community on that idea.

“We’ve been asked to look at route efficiency, including decreasing buses by going to a three-tier system,” Hazen said. “Whether any of that will work to be acceptable to the public, who knows? We’re working on it.”

Currently, Bellevue bus drivers serve two schools each day. Under a three-tier system, they would serve three campuses.

Transportation concerns were a large part of the district’s discussion around changing the high school start times last year. Though high schoolers use King County Metro buses to get to and from school, the change has had an unintentional side effect on lower grade levels.

Following the implementation of the district’s new, later high school start times this fall, Tyee Middle School was forced to change their bell schedule from an 8:26 a.m start time to a 7:45 a.m. start. Tyee students travel on the same Factoria and South Bellevue arterials that are already congested with rush hour traffic, and now are also experiencing increased traffic from Newport High School’s new 8:30 a.m. start time.

Having the school start times originally be so close together made the city’s Transportation Department nervous, according to district spokesperson Elizabeth Sytman.

“When you change start times at one school, it impacts others … A lot of schools bus routes are using the same roads, and it impacts traffic in the south end,” she said.

The problem is not unique to south Bellevue, Sytman added. Several school bus routes use popular roads like Northeast 8th Street that are already susceptible to traffic congestion.

“We really stress the dependable and caring part [of our role],” Hazen said.