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Board debates van fleet proposal to cut contracted special‑transportation costs
Summary
District staff outlined a proposal to bring some contracted van runs in‑house, estimating up to $1 million startup and approximately $1 million annual cost for a full 20‑van fleet; board members discussed piloting a smaller fleet, routing software and potential trust‑fund offsets.
District transportation staff and administrators presented a van‑fleet proposal during the Feb. 19 budget work session aimed at reducing the district's heavy reliance on contracted vendors for special transportation and some out‑of‑district runs. The board discussed scale, staffing, offsets and a staged approach.
Staff described current contracted usage as roughly 20 vans and six monitors on a typical day for out‑of‑district and special needs transport. The proposal outlines costs for purchasing vans, hiring drivers (including non‑CDL drivers), management, maintenance and routing software. Staff estimated that standing up a full 20‑van operation could cost about $1 million to start and about $1 million per year thereafter; a smaller pilot (for example, five vans) would lower startup costs but also reduce the revenue and routing scale needed to fully offset overhead.
Board members and staff emphasized several tradeoffs: routing and mapping software costs are relatively fixed regardless of the fleet size, meaning the per‑unit cost declines as the fleet grows; support staff (coordinator, mechanic) become justifiable only at higher fleet sizes; and revenue from other districts or contracted partners would depend on successful coordination. Staff said the proposal includes a $1 million placeholder offset from a special trust fund to reduce general‑fund pressure while the district pilots or phases implementation.
Members asked for follow‑up analyses: an itemized run list showing the district's most expensive contracted runs, scenario analyses comparing 5, 10 and 20 van outcomes, payback timelines, and an assessment of how many vans are needed to justify a full support team. Staff said they will drill down with transportation mapping software and with Transportation staff (Terry) to identify candidate runs that could be brought in‑house first. The district also noted it had recently reduced some contracted counts and that interim bargaining adjustments were intended in part to assist with recruitment of drivers.
Ending: The board asked staff to return with route‑level cost comparisons, a detailed staffing plan for staged implementation and revenue projections showing expected billing to neighboring districts before making any appropriation moves.
