Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves joint specialized-transportation contract expected to cut per-student costs
Summary
The finance committee approved a joint contract with service providers to cover roughly 300 specialized-transportation students; staff estimated per-student costs would fall and modeled $3 million in budgeted savings for next year.
The finance committee approved a joint specialized-transportation contract with providers who submitted a combined bid to serve students requiring specialized transit.
Assistant Superintendent Forrest (presenting the item) said the joint contract with "Safe Wheels and Mr. Seas" will serve about 300 students and that the vendor proposes a flat charge per vehicle, per route, per day of $975. Forrest said the district's current cost for the same group is about $169 per student per day and that the new contract could reduce that to between $81 and $130 per student per day. He said the change could produce a potential reduction in transportation expenditures of between $2,000,000 and $4,600,000 depending on the number of students served.
Karen DeFrancis told the committee the district incorporated a $3,000,000 savings from anticipated transportation changes into next year's budget.
Committee members voted to approve the contract; the motion carried with the verbal "ayes" recorded in the meeting.
Separately, transportation staff reported operational updates: the driver pool totals 48 drivers (36 full time, 12 part time) with a current active total of about 45 drivers; 46 drivers hold CDLs with endorsements and 2 are noncommercial operators endorsed to operate smaller buses. The district is hiring non-CDL drivers to expand capacity for smaller vehicles and specialized runs, an effort staff said will reduce reliance on contracted services over time. Officials noted 63 buses in the fleet, with additional smaller vehicles on order and six full-size replacements anticipated in the next fiscal year.
Staff and committee members also discussed morning pickup times for some routes; members asked staff to reexamine routes that result in very early pickup times for middle-school students and staff said they would review route timing and software calculations that incorporate travel time and typical morning traffic.
