Videos of a crowded school bus prompt the Alpine School District to add a new route

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — After families raised concerns by posting videos of 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. Since he lives five kilometers from the school, he takes the bus there and back.

“Pretty annoying having to walk when I'm supposed to take the bus,” Alex said.

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

“There are kids sitting in the aisle or at the back of the bus where the back seats are and they're leaning back there and some kids are sharing laps, some of them have their knees halfway down the aisle and kids are.” “I sat on it,” Alex said, showing FOX 13 News some of the videos he took on the way back from school.

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

“Honestly, I fear for the future generations that will live in this school district,” she said. “I don't think parents can send their children to school at this point with any confidence that they will arrive safely or even make it home safely or even have transportation at all. This is shocking.”

We asked the Alpine School District what it is doing about this situation.

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

Alex said on days when the bus was full and he couldn't get on, he got a message asking him to call the district to report the overcrowding.

“We have heard some rumors that notes have been passed around suggesting there may be overcrowding on the buses. We haven’t substantiated that,” Stowell said. “When taking the bus, it is very important to us that our students get to school safely and on time. So when transportation issues arise, we typically respond very, very quickly.”

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