Texas Central outlines plan to reduce bus delays, proposes route consolidation and extra hires

Texas Central, the vendor that operates Lewisville ISD’s school buses, presented a service-improvement action plan to trustees on Feb. 18 and described several immediate and short-term steps to reduce late arrivals and combined routes.

Jason Walker, president and CEO of Texas Central School Bus, told the board, “we understand the frustration” parents and staff feel from reliability problems and said the company is pursuing both staffing and routing changes to improve service. Walker said elementary AM and PM on-time arrivals exceed 90%, middle schools show mixed PM results and the high school tier is the most challenged because of compressed bell times and travel distances.

The immediate actions Texas Central listed include consolidating about 20 routes (roughly 10 already completed), reallocating and accelerating hiring for roughly 10 domicile drivers in the next three weeks, creating two van routes for long special-education trips, and adding daily route-coverage reports to the district: a 7:30 a.m. update on routes that started more than 10 minutes late, a 9:30 a.m. post-AM-run summary, an afternoon departure summary and a 6 p.m. per-school on-time report.

“Kaj, Jeff and Kaffiria” (company operations leads) and Mr. Walker told trustees the firm is at about 85% of required staffing once a 10% absenteeism buffer is considered; considering current drivers plus routes, coverage is closer to 94%, Walker said.

Trustees and staff pressed Texas Central on routing technology, driver accountability and incentives. Walker and operations lead Kaffiria Hart said the company uses a third-party routing system and dashboarding; they also said dash cameras are in place and drivers with repeated adverse driving indicators — speeding, hard stops, close following — are pulled for coaching or corrective action. Walker cautioned that pay incentives can sometimes encourage unsafe driving and said the company has seen mixed results from incentive programs.

Parents and trustees asked about the “Here Comes the Bus” parent app. Texas Central said only families who download the app receive notifications and that some reliability issues with the app persist; the vendor said it is evaluating additional technology options with the district and noted some improved communication will require additional funding.

Why it matters: Late or combined routes affect students’ instructional time, create parent disruptions and have equity implications when families lack alternative transportation. District and vendor officials said they will continue to adjust routes and staffing, report daily performance, and return to the board with further updates.

Next steps: Texas Central will continue mid-year route consolidation, hire and train drivers (company estimates roughly four weeks to fully train a new driver who must obtain a CDL), add morning/afternoon reporting for the district, and discuss potential stipends for overnight/athletic trips to reduce impacts on route coverage.

Direct quote: “We have the pleasure of talking to Dr. Rapp and Mr. Cash…and these are some of the things that we want to share” (Jason Walker, Texas Central).