Videos of an overcrowded school bus lead the Alpine School District to add a new route

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah – After families raised concerns by posting videos about overcrowding on a school bus, the Alpine School District is launching a new route Thursday.

Alex Craver is a junior at Cedar Valley High School. He lives three miles from school, so he uses the bus to get there and back.

“Pretty annoying having to walk while riding the bus,” said Alex.

He says there are days when he can’t get on because the bus is full.

“There’s kids sitting in the aisle, or right at the back of the bus where the back seats are, and they sit in the back there, and some kids share their laps, some have their knees halfway down the aisle and kids sit on that,” said Alex , as he showed FOX 13 News some of the videos he took while driving back from school.

His sister Kayla called the school and tried to raise awareness about it on social media.

“Frankly, scared for the generations to come that will live in this school district,” she said. “I don’t think parents can send their children to school knowing they will arrive safely, or even get home safely, or even have transportation. It’s shocking.”

We asked the Alpine School District what they are doing about this situation.

“We have received these reports; we have added an additional route to alleviate that,” district spokesman Rich Stowell said.

Alex said that on days when the bus was full and he couldn’t get on, he would get a note asking him to call the district to report the overcrowding.

“We have heard some rumors that there have been notes going around that indicate there may be overcrowding on the buses. We have not substantiated that,” Stowell said. “In the case of buses, it is very important to us that our students get to school safely and on time. So we usually respond very quickly to transport problems.”

“I hope we get more buses and people start to care about our safety,” Alex said.