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Transportation manager: Harlow’s reports higher ridership, plans stacked routing and more drivers
Summary
Harlow's transportation manager told the board the contractor has increased routes and riders, is recruiting drivers, and plans stacked routing and staggered start times to cut current route times of about two hours down to roughly 30–40 minutes; registration reopens June 1.
Katie Zufelt, transportation manager for Harlow’s (the district’s contractor), told the board the contractor is increasing staffing, adjusting routing and preparing for boundary changes to reduce ride times and address a large wait list.
Zufelt said Harlow’s currently employs five full‑time 12‑month staff and 33 part‑time 10‑month employees and is training additional drivers; the fleet inventory includes 27 general‑route buses and 11 activity buses with several vehicles out of service. She said the district’s wait list has fallen to about 280 from roughly 600 last year and that registration will reopen June 1 and remain open through July 31 to create driver manifests for the upcoming year.
"We have about 280 on the wait list right now," Zufelt said. "We'll reopen that registration June 1. It'll be open completely until July 31, and at that point it will shut down." She described stacked routing — staggering school start times so one bus can serve multiple sites — as the principal operational change that will let routes shrink from two hours to roughly 30–40 minutes per run.
Board members asked about CDL training and asset disposal; Zufelt said Harlow’s pays for CDL training and that the district is working on phased disposal or salvage of old buses. The contractor and district administrators said they expect stacked routing to reduce student time on buses and alleviate behavioral and safety risk associated with long rides.
What’s next: staff and Harlow’s will finalize routing and time windows as boundary changes and new school openings are implemented; registration and manifesting will restart in June.
