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Amity ad hoc committee: switching to single-tier start times could cost about $4.1 million and strain local bus operators
Summary
At a virtual meeting, the Amity Board ad hoc school start committee heard staff estimate a switch to single-tier bus runs across four districts would cost roughly $4.1 million annually (Amity share ~ $1.9 million) and warned small local owner-operators may lack the fleet, financing and drivers to implement the change.
The Amity Board of Education ad hoc school start committee met virtually and discussed the fiscal and operational consequences of moving from the districts' current shared two-tier bus system to a single-tier schedule.
Staff member Jen, who led the transportation review, told the committee that converting all four districts to single-tier runs would be expensive. “It’s essentially a cost of about $4.1 million annually to switch from the single tier system to the double tier system,” she said, adding Amity’s portion of that estimate is about $1.9 million.
Why it matters: the committee found the headline number understates the implementation challenges. Committee members were told many local owner-operators are small—some owning a single bus—and said they lack the capital and financing to double fleets quickly. Jen said the current joint contracts include a lower-priced “half-run” for buses that do only one trip; owner-operators and staff said the overhead costs (insurance, bus capital, driver pay) make single-run economics unsustainable for small firms.
Committee members raised multiple operational constraints. Staff explained a typical round trip takes roughly 50–60 minutes, which means shifting to concurrent runs for elementary, middle and high schools would require many more buses and drivers. The committee reviewed fleet math: Amity currently pays for 22 shared buses; under an unshared single-tier model that number was shown in staff materials as roughly 48 runs that Amity would need to provide, a change that helps explain the large cost estimate.
Local procurement and community preference also weighed on the discussion. Staff noted the district could break the joint contract and bid to larger companies (committee members referenced national contractors such as DATCO or First Student as examples), but members cautioned that moving away from the longstanding local owner-operator model could provoke community opposition. As Jen put it, some owner-operators “have very deep roots” in the community.
The committee discussed timing options. Staff reminded members the current joint contract for Amity runs through June 30, 2030, and said one option would be to wait until contracts naturally expire and then re-bid, rather than breaking active contracts now. That approach, members acknowledged, delays any schedule change but avoids early-termination penalties and allows more lead time to plan budget impacts.
The committee did not vote on any change to school start times during the meeting. Instead, members agreed to pursue data-driven analysis using a routing software tool (discussed separately) to model scenarios and determine how many buses, drivers and dollars a change would actually require before making a formal recommendation.
