ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- After several fights at the new downtown transit center, RTS and the Rochester City School District announced Tuesday a new transportation plan for some students.
More students will now take express buses home from school and no longer transfer at the Transit Center. About 1,500 to 1,600 students transfer downtown now.
After the plan is fully implemented in May, they expect that number will be reduced by about half.
"We've been working on this since the transit center opened," said RTS CEO Bill Carpenter. "What's the right security? What are the right steps that need to be taken?"
Ajia Humphrey is a freshman at Monroe High School.
"It's too much drama. Everyone comes in and wants to fight all the time," Humphrey said. "I don't feel safe at all down here."
"It's holy hell," said Parthine Tanskley when asked what afternoons can be like at the transit center. "Older people are on the bus, disabled people are on the bus, and it's not all about them. I know the children is important but it's about all of us."
"The difficulty we've had is when there's large volumes of students and adults here together, the opportunity increases," Carpenter said. "So by reducing the volume of students we're better able to have that security identify those individuals that might want to have behavior that is not acceptable."
Lee Williams, who uses the bus system, thinks students are getting a tough a break.
"If we set a standard that says you don't have to behave, we'll accommodate your misbehavior, they'll misbehave more," Williams said. "We should bring them on in, everyone can use the transit center. When you're here you have to behave."
RCSD Superintendent Bolgen Vargas agrees that it will take more than just changes here to make a difference.
"The majority of students do behave well," Vargas said. "We need to continue to work as a community to make sure that our children are behaving well, at school, at home and in the street."