Variances to Eligibility Requirements

A variance is an exception from the Office of Pupil Transportation that authorizes transportation for a student who would not ordinarily be eligible. A variance can  be granted only by the Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) and must be reapplied for annually. The types of variances are listed below. 

Medical Variance
Parents and guardians should use this form to apply for a medical variance if their child becomes incapacitated for a period of time because of serious medical reasons and the child’s physician says that the child may attend classes if appropriate transportation is provided. The form must be signed by the student's doctor and by the school's principal. Final approval can only be granted by the Department of Education’s physician.

Hazard Variance
Parents/guardians and schools complete this form to request a variance due to unsafe conditions. Safety exceptions are limited to circumstances that result primarily from unsafe traffic, traffic control conditions, dangerous crossings, or areas impassable to pedestrians. Students are expected to walk along established streets and sidewalks, available to regular auto or pedestrian traffic, or satisfactory off-road paths in order to reach school. Some of the reasons for which safety variances from policy cannot be given include:

• Unsavory persons loitering in the area the child must traverse
• Unpaved roads or unpaved sidewalks
• School sessions that require the child to travel to school or return home in the dark
• Abandoned buildings lining the street leading to school
• Parks with through streets or sidewalks that the child must traverse

OPT may grant a hazard variance if the distance a child must travel to avoid a potentially hazardous condition is greater than the distance the child must reside from school to be eligible for transportation.

Emergency Variance
Parents/guardians and schools complete this form to request a variance due to an emergency condition. Emergency conditions may include structural damage to a school caused by fire or flooding or no heat or electricity in the child’s school. An emergency variance can be granted on a day-to-day basis when an emergency condition has been determined by OPT.

Shelter Variance—Students in Temporary Housing
Whenever a student is placed in temporary housing or a domestic violence shelter, a request for emergency transportation can be placed immediately by a parent/guardian, school or shelter, by filing a shelter variance form with OPT. Students in grades K-12 who have been placed in temporary housing (homeless shelters, hotels, etc.) by public authorities are exempt from age and distance requirements for as long as they reside in that temporary housing. All subsequent requests for the student’s transportation must follow normal procedures. For more information click the links below:
Chancellor's Regulation A-780 (Students in Temporary Housing)
McKinney-Vento Students in Temporary Housing Guide for Parents 

Access Variance 
In certain areas of New York City, where public transportation may be unavailable, inadequate or inaccessible and where the student’s geographic distance from school makes it necessary, an access variance may be provided.