Students End Longest Bus Commute in U.S.

Students in remote Terlingua, Texas, no longer have to endure the nation’s longest school bus commute. A high school will open there today, sparing them the 80-mile ride to the nearest high school in Alpine. The trip began as early as 5:30 a.m. for students in Terlingua, 300 miles southeast of El Paso, and other nearby communities. School days were stretched into 12-hour ordeals. “All the traveling wore us out--getting up and having to spend so much time on the bus, then getting home late,” said Claudia Garcia, who will be an 11th-grader this year. It’s been that way since the 1960s. Area schools just went up to the eighth grade. But all that will change when the Terlingua school opens its doors to about 40 students.