MIDDLEBORO — Determining how many students will actually use the school bus to travel to and from class could change the way transportation routes are created and potentially ease problems, Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Lyons told School Committee members at their Oct. 10 meeting.

Issues raised by parents about students arriving to school late in the first days of the school year prompted a meeting with Lyons, School Committee member Chris Benson and Terry Carvalho of Five Star Bus Company, the company responsible for bus transportation.

Lyons noted that the district should survey families to determine how many students actually take the bus rather than work on total student population numbers. She described that as a “big takeaway’’ from the meeting. 

“Many, many children are parent-transported,’’ which is clear from the amount of cars in the parking lot before and after school, she said.

All students have the right to bus transportation and none will be forced out, she clarified. But having accurate information about how many students will actually need to take the bus would “help’’ in creating routes going forward, she said.

Knowing busing is needed for 2,700 students, for example, rather than 3,500 “will make the task different,’’ Lyons noted.

She said that drivers make a “dry run’’ of their routes before school starts to ensure accuracy. But she noted that routes are created by computer software and an algorithm is used to determine particulars such as the time between stops.

“I recognize that that is frustrating,’’ she said.

This can explain, she said, why there can be significant time difference between neighboring stops.

Routes also change, she said, as families move. And other elements, such as weather, traffic and road construction can impact timing.

“Sometimes more patience is needed than we would like to have needed,’’ she said.

Another element, she said, is the size of Middleboro, which totals 72 square miles.

Still, she said, transportation concerns have eased as the school year rolls along.

She explained, and Benson agreed, that they have not received any additional complaints about transportation in recent weeks. After the first two weeks or so, Lyons noted there had been a “sharp decline’’ in complaints.