The number of students taking advantage of school transportationappears to be on the rise, possibly as a result of escalatingprices on gasoline, school officials said.

“I’ve noticed more students riding in the morning than I have inthe past,” said Bruce Falvey, transportation director for theLincoln County School District. “That’s really where you’ll see adifference in parents’ commuter habits, because a lot of parentsare on their way to work so it’s not an inconvenience to them.”

There are traditionally more riders in the afternoon than in themorning because parents cannot leave work to pick their children upfrom school, he said.

Falvey estimated an increase of 5 to 10 percent in the number ofstudents riding the bus to school in the morning.

“Some of these students haven’t ridden the bus in quite sometime,” he said. “I know of one route that has some fourth and fifthgraders that have never ridden the bus before.”

Steve Huey, transportation director for the Brookhaven SchoolDistrict, said he has also noticed an increase in the number ofstudents taking the bus.

“We’ve had several telephone calls from the drivers about busesbeing full, so I would say we have more this year than last year,”he said.

Both transportation directors agreed that a specific cause forthe increase would be difficult to target. However, they cited twofactors as probably the most influential.

Enrollment in both districts is up from previous years and thatwould certainly have an impact, they said. With gas prices hoveringat $3 a gallon, the directors said economics is also a likely causefor the increase.

“School buses are probably the most economical transportationfor school children these days,” Huey said. “No one has actuallysaid they were putting their child on the bus because of gasprices, but if it a nationwide trend that could be the reason.”

Falvey said he expects the number of students on buses tocontinue to climb during the course of the year in reflection ofthe public’s expectation that gas prices will also continue torise.