Transportation Eligibility

To speed up the process, CPS has automated the request for Alternative Stop Request and Deviated Childcare Request Form. Please click on the button below to submit electronically.

(Alternative Stop & Deviated Childcare Request Forms cannot be processed earlier than 10 school days. If after 10 school days you have not received an acceptance or denial notification by email or phone contact the CPS Call Center Hotline.)

Transportation Inquiry Form

Students are eligible for transportation services to Cincinnati Public Schools, non-public and charter schools when the following conditions are met:

• The student's legal residence is located within the legal boundaries of the Cincinnati Public School District.

• The distance between the student's legal residence and the school of attendance, when measured by the most direct public route, is a minimum of 1 mile for all students. All distance measurements used to determine eligibility will be calculated by CPS' Pupil Transportation routing system.

• The student is enrolled in kindergarten to 12th grade. (Preschool students with disabilities may be eligible for transportation. Contact CPS' Early Childhood Department for information.)

• Students attending some K-12 schools — Oyler, Riverview East and Spencer Center — will be transported by yellow bus. High school students at these K-12 schools who participate in after-school sports and club activities will receive extracurricular Metro passes to ride Metro buses home.

• An elementary student attending a neighborhood school must reside within that school's attendance area.

• Students with special needs who are assigned by the Student Services Department to schools other than their neighborhood schools, are provided transportation as if they are within the assigned schools' transportation service areas.

• "Transportation as a Related Service" must be specified within the student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) by the Student Services Department.

• The transportation service for the student has not been suspended as a result of inappropriate behavior.

• *For non-public/Charter students, it takes less than 30 minutes to travel directly from the student's assigned neighborhood school to the school of attendance.

Transportation Service Areas

Transportation service areas may have an impact on determining a student's transportation eligibility. Service areas are described as:

• Elementary Neighborhood Schools--Transportation service is offered within the established attendance boundary of the school.
• Elementary Schools with Magnet Programs
  • The Cincinnati Public School District is divided into two geographic areas — East and West — for magnet programs (citywide magnet and area magnet).
  • Each neighborhood school has an area assignment.
  • Transportation service is provided to a student attending a magnet program within the assigned area (East or West).
• Non-Public and Charter Schools--Transportation is provided to non-public and charter students who meet eligibility distance criteria and who reside within the Cincinnati Public School District.

Parent Reimbursement

As the routing and scheduling for the school year is completed, it may be determined that some routes are impractical to sustain due to a low number of students per bus route to justify or the route does not meet state time allowances. Ohio law allows the Board of Education to make the determination to declare a route impractical due to these conditions. When this happens, parents/guardians are eligible to receive assistance to help cover the costs of transporting their students to school. This is a state-sponsored program that provides reimbursement only when both of these criteria are met:

• The student is eligible for transportation but resides on a route deemed impractical to transport by CPS., and
• The student lives one or more miles (s) from the school.

The amount of payment is set annually by the Ohio Department of Education. The process is as follows:

• The parents/guardians are notified in writing by the Pupil Transportation Branch each Fall (August and October) that the Board of Education has declared that transportation is impractical for their child(ren).
• Parents are required to declare their agreement or disagreement in writing by the specified date.
• Parents are notified in writing that their response to the declaration has been received.
• The Board of Education will mail payment checks in the amount specified by the Ohio Department in lieu of service in June.
• Parents who have agreed with the impractical-to-transport status and who have not received their payment check by July 1st should contact the CPS Access Pupil Transportation Office
  (513) 363-RIDE [7433].

The process is repeated each year. Parents and guardians have an opportunity to dispute the decision for reimbursement and may request or download the form to do as such.

CPS Access Pupil Transportation Office. 2651 Burnet Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 513-363-RIDE [7433].