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Acadia Parish hears DS Bus Service update on fleet, air conditioning and driver shortages
Summary
DS Bus Service provided a fleet and staffing update to the Acadia Parish School Board, reporting plans to purchase buses, retrofit older vehicles with air conditioning, and ongoing driver recruitment to cover routes.
The Acadia Parish School Board received an update from Russell Lanclos of DS Bus Service on fleet condition, air conditioning, driver shortages and hiring efforts.
Lanclos said the district currently spends about $1,100,000 per year on buses and that the district's goal is to avoid having buses older than 10 years in regular service. He said the district is targeting about 10 new buses per year, which, at that rate, would take roughly six to seven years to cycle the fleet given current route counts.
Board and transportation staff discussed air conditioning. Lanclos said approximately 24 to 25 route buses are currently air conditioned, special-education lift buses already have AC, and most spare buses in the yard also have AC. He noted districts sometimes retrofit relatively new buses with air conditioning and cited a reported retrofit cost of about $15,000 per bus (citing Lafayette as an example).
On staffing, Lanclos said the transportation operation runs about 78 routes; the department runs roughly 228 route runs per day (morning and afternoon), which equates to about 3,420 runs per month. He said 54 runs did not operate in the most recent month, meaning roughly 98% of runs were completed. He described current hiring activity: five drivers in behind-the-wheel training, nine potential hires coming through training, eight candidates in screening and two previously trained licensed drivers awaiting clearances. He said long-term absences and last-minute call-outs contributed to missed runs and that staff are using subs and help from other areas to cover routes when possible.
Lanclos described communication protocols: if staff know a bus will not run the next day, parents receive a notice by 6 p.m. the evening before; afternoon disruptions are communicated by about 2 p.m. He also told the board that attendance bonus funds specified in the transportation contract produced a check for $9,924.50 that will be returned to the board for discretionary use per the contract clause.
Board members asked for route mileage details for Ward 4 and discussed options including retrofitting and purchasing schedules. Lanclos said new buses ordered with next year's funds cannot be paid for before July 1 and will arrive after that date.
No formal board action was taken; the presentation closed with board direction to continue hiring and to provide requested mileage data.
