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Transportation report: routes moved into VOTrans system; district lists driver vacancies and software costs
Summary
Director Michael Lee told the board the district has 213 routes, about 24-65 FTEs in transportation and four bus driver vacancies; routes were migrated into VOTrans routing software and the annual maintenance fee is roughly $16,000.
Director of Transportation Michael Lee briefed the Petersburg City School Board on Wednesday on staffing, routing and recent compliance steps in the transportation department.
Lee said the district now routes about 213 runs and that drivers commonly run multiple trips per day; an average route time cited was about 25 minutes and many drivers run three or more routes. Current staffing listed: 24 general bus drivers, four special-needs drivers, five van drivers, 14 bus aides, two mechanics and a fleet supervisor. Lee said the department has about 65 full- and part-time positions and four driver vacancies.
Lee told the board that, when he arrived, many routes were tracked on paper; staff have now imported routes into the VOTrans routing system and trained office staff and drivers on the VOTrans and AVL/GPS (Where's-the-bus) software. He said the district has cleared unauthorized users and will reissue parent access for next school year after a clean-up so only verified parents can register to track buses.
Board members asked about vendor costs. Lee said routing and GPS systems typically have initial setup fees and annual maintenance; when asked directly about the VOTrans annual fee he confirmed the district had a bill for approximately $16,000 for a July 1 through June 30 subscription year. Board members also asked about driver screening and safety. Lee said the district implemented quarterly DMV checks and full FMCSA queries for CDL holders and engaged a new vendor for drug and alcohol testing, which the department will deploy at the start of the next school year.
Board members raised driver working conditions and training needs. Several members asked about professional development for drivers who encounter student behavior or trauma on buses. Lee and other administrators said driver care, training and monitoring are part of ongoing planning; the district said it will incorporate training and communications to parents about the Where's-the-bus application ahead of the next school year.
Ending: Lee said the department will continue to recruit drivers, implement the VOTrans/Where's-the-bus setup for parents and provide updates to the board as hires and compliance activities are completed.
