At Indianapolis Public Schools, there are a variety of ways in which students get to and from school: walking, riding an IPS yellow bus or using IndyGo.
Information about all three transportation options — and who is eligible — can be found below. A student’s home address is what determines a student’s school boundary. If families choose a school outside of that school’s student boundary, they will be responsible for providing their own transportation.
Our district’s walk zone policy has been executed at all of our K–12 schools.
Who are considered walkers?
- Children are classified as a walker if the following conditions are met:
- K–6 students who reside 1 mile or less from their school.
- 7–8 students who reside 1.25 miles or less from their school.
- 9–12 students who reside 1.5 miles or less from their school.
- Transportation may be provided for students who live within the walking distance guidelines when:
- Physical barriers prevent safe travel to school (i.e. busy intersections).
- Required because of a qualifying medical condition of the student.
Additional Walker Resources
- Transportation is determined by your home address. Families will be notified before the beginning of the school year of their transportation designation.
- Your child can be picked up at their childcare address if: a) your childcare address is within the same boundary as your home address; and b) your childcare address is within distance guidelines for transportation service.
- It is very important that students only use authorized bus stops. Bus drivers are not authorized to assign or change bus stops. Bus stop change requests should be directed to Transportation at 317-226-4000.
- Drivers are instructed to deliver the students to the same bus stop where they boarded the bus. Buses are only to stop at the authorized stops on designated routes.
- For those eligible, all bus stops shall be within .3 mile of a student’s home for elementary and middle school students and .7 mile for high school students.
Additional Yellow Bus Resources
Who are considered IndyGo bus riders?
- IPS has selected students in Grades 9–12 at the district high schools to ride IndyGo.
- Selected students will use IndyGo as their sole means of transportation to and from school.
- Students that ride IndyGo will receive an IndyGo MyKey transit pass that allows them to ride the entire IndyGo fixed-route network FREE of charge.
- Eligibility criteria for students affected by the transition include:
- Zero IndyGo bus transfers
- Less than .7-mile total walk
- No more than 50 minutes total travel time. (We anticipate that the average total travel time for eligible students will be 25 minutes.)
- Students selected for IndyGo will not receive IPS yellow bus service. Students not selected for IndyGo will receive IPS yellow bus service (but will not receive a free IndyGo bus pass).
- Using IndyGo provides IPS high school students the added benefit of greater mobility to navigate throughout the city while gaining new skills and independence as they move toward their postsecondary plans.
- This includes using their IndyGo MyKey transit pass cards to commute to and from school, work and extracurricular activities, or simply to explore the city’s offerings and attractions.