Dean Transportation reports steady on-time performance, plans electric buses and pilot camera rollout

Dean Transportation presented a quarterly operations update to the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education on March 3, reporting stable on-time performance, technology pilots and progress on an electric school-bus project.

The update included performance metrics, technology pilots and recruitment plans. “As far as on time this quarter remain virtually the same,” Operations Director Kevin Harkness told the board, and later summarized the monthly on-time rate as “pretty steady right around the 93 to ish percent.” He said that seasonal weather produced a small dip in January but that the district’s on-time results were improved compared with the same period last year.

The company said it completed about 1,500 field trips so far this school year and that customer contacts recorded on an online feedback form fell from roughly 45–50 calls per week at the start of the year to about one or two a week in recent weeks.

A technology pilot includes 10 buses equipped with new camera systems. “I can assure you those are done. We have 10 camera systems on the bus ready to go,” Harkness said, adding the district and Dean are drafting an internal chain-of-command process for requesting video that will account for student-record and privacy rules.

Christopher Dean, who leads innovation for Dean Transportation, told the board the company is working through the policy and technical steps needed to manage video under privacy requirements. “There’s a lot of data, there’s a lot of process, there’s FERPA pieces,” he said, referencing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. District and vendor staff will finalize procedures before broader deployment.

Electric-bus project and grants

Dean reported the district currently has two grant sources identified for electric buses: a federal Clean School Bus grant program and a separate state of Michigan grant. “When you add those up together, we have just over $6,600,000 of funding,” Christopher Dean said, and he estimated the total project cost at “just between that 6.6 and $7,000,000.” He said Consumers Energy would perform infrastructure upgrades through its Power My Fleet program, which Dean described as “at 0 cost to the district,” and that charging installation work would likely occur over summer to limit operational impacts.

Timeline remains tentative: Dean said the district’s early plan is to have the first electric buses in Grand Rapids in the fourth quarter, subject to vendor availability and grant details.

Tablets, ZPass and other onboard technology

Dean said the company is evaluating bus tablets to replace paper manifests and driver directions. “We’re getting to the tail end of evaluating, really 3 primary vendors,” Christopher Dean said, and the plan is to pilot tablet hardware on buses this spring. Dean said the tablets would be evaluated for integration with existing systems such as ZPass (student tap cards) and the Here Comes the Bus app.

Harkness said ZPass usage remains relatively low among ridership because students must carry a card to swipe; he encouraged families to enroll and noted the system provides verification of boarding and electronic records for transportation staff. He described “Here Comes the Bus” and the district’s robocall system as communication tools to notify families of late runs or bus substitutions.

Safety enforcement cameras

The presentation also addressed a recent state law change allowing expanded enforcement use of exterior stop-arm cameras. Patrick Dean said the company is meeting with vendors and that a statewide vendor has emerged as a leading option. He added that fee and revenue flows related to enforcement must be aligned between the district and Dean before a broad rollout. Board members were told to expect pilot tests and a potential larger deployment next year.

Staffing and service reliability

Harkness reported staffing is “some of the best staffing that we've had in quite some time,” noting the district recorded zero “double up” runs this year—instances where a single bus covers two runs because of staff shortages. He acknowledged recent schedule changes and bus substitutions caused by Michigan State Police inspections that required some buses to be pulled for inspection; he said the inspections concluded last week and that communication should improve as inspections end.

Board discussion and next steps

Board members asked about camera timelines, scope of tablet pilots, and how routes are chosen for pilot buses; Dean staff said the pilots were chosen to represent geographic quadrants, special-education and general-education routes and a mix of school levels. The company invited board members to tour the transportation office and emphasized ongoing recruitment of drivers ahead of next school year.

The report concluded with the district and Dean committing to finalize FERPA-compliant procedures for video requests, continue electric-bus infrastructure work with Consumers Energy, and to pilot devices and cameras before district-wide rollouts.