Pupil Transportation

ITRE’s Pupil Transportation Group is the only transportation research center in the country to focus on technical assistance and applied research for the improvements of safety, security, quality and efficiency of ALL modes of school travel.

The mission of the Pupil Transportation Group is to apply transportation engineering principles and technology to the operation and management of multi-modal school transportation in order to provide for safe and efficient transportation of school children. The key to the success of the pupil transportation group is its partnership with local education agencies, state agencies, universities, national associations, and private industries. The very first Perley A. Thomas Award was given to the group for achievement and innovation in the field of school bus transportation at the 2005 North Carolina Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

News and Events

ITRE School Location Project Will Benefit Planners for 20 Years

Over the past two years, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) has worked with the Operations Research and Education lab (OR/Ed) at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) on a long-range building plan to meet the needs of its rapidly increasing school population. The ultimate goal is to network for future communication between the OR/Ed lab, WCPSS, and Wake County Planning jurisdictions. Read More...

Walking School Bus: Burn Fat not Gas

Whether you participate in a walk to school program to help your child’s health or to save money on gas, you benefit either way. Recess has been eliminated at many schools, the prevalence of obesity in children has tripled, gas prices hit us hard and fast, and demands on our school bus service have risen due to gas hikes. Sending your children to school on a Walking School Bus is an alternative worth implementing. Jeff Tsai, director of the Pupil Transportation Group at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), has had a paper accepted by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) for presentation at their Annual Meeting January 23 in Washington, D.C. The paper is titled, “Creating and Operating a Walking School Bus Program”. Read More...

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