School bus ruling

Late Tuesday, a decision made that affects thousands of Rochester city school students.

I have the ruling right here in my hand. It's 13 pages long but what you really need to know is RTS buses will still transport kids as usual next week and the school district will have until October 1st to come up with a permanent plan. In the ruling the judge explained.

"Postponing the effective date of the FTA's action will enable the parties and the district to take the steps necessary to provide reliable school bus service for Rochester students."

You may recall, the federal transportation authority had ordered RTS to stop providing bus service for city school kids, last month.

That decision caused great concern and left parents wondering how their kids would get to school.

There was also concern that Laidlaw, the cities bus service, would not have enough buses to transport the kids.

We spoke with school board member Willa Powell today. She says she's relieved that this decision buys all parties involved more time and she talked about the problems they've had with Laidlaw.

"That's very helpful. if Laidlaw is not prepared to provide services to us the way we're currently configured, that's really Laidlaws problem and they're very likely the ones not to get the contract," says Powell.

Again, this ruling buys the city school district time to find alternative transportation for Rochester school kids while the case works its way through the courts. School starts next week, Thursday the 6th.