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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > June > 30
Monday, June 30, 2008
Companies: City kids should ride private bus service
A coalition of bus companies are making a pitch that the city school district could save 40 percent of its $12 million annual transportation costs by turning its bus service at all grades over to an outside company.
On Monday, the Greater Dayton RTA hosted a meeting with representatives from the National School Transportation Association, which argued the current high school bus service plan violates federal law by setting up direct routes to schools on city buses that run only when school is in service.
City and school officials said high school busing on RTA is not expected to return this fall because of tight budgets, leaving students to find their own way to school.
Lori Ward, the head of business operations for the district, said at the meeting that a study group examining busing will meet for the first time next week in hopes of making recommendations for future changes to the school board in August. But that committee’s work will not affect the plan to drop high school busing this fall.
Last summer, private bus companies filed a complaint with the Federal Transit Administration, overseer of public bus systems, alleging the RTA contract to bus high school students on limited service routes broke federal law. RTA officials said the contract has repeatedly passed muster with the federal agency.
In response, RTA Executive Director Mark Donaghy invited bus companies to present options for private service.
Terry Thomas, who heads a Youngstown company called Community Bus Services, brought with him school board members from Columbus, Youngstown and Warren to tout privatized service.
Thomas also pointed to Cincinnati, a city with private bus service. He said that city’s bus fleet and student population both are bigger than Dayton’s but their cost per student is 40 percent lower. He promised a private company could transport Dayton kids at the same cost as Cincinnati while maintaining union contracts and working with existing drivers.
The big savings comes through a wide range of small efficiencies, Thomas said — replacing expensive old buses with cheaper new ones, carefully devising routes, keeping buses full and reducing fuel costs by shutting off engines when idle, to name a few.
“The Cincinnati costs would be the costs here,” Thomas said.
Ward said there are many issues to be addressed because of the complexity of Dayton’s system, which transports an unusually large number of special education, charter school and private school students.
“If you are telling me you can find a way to transport 14,000 students to 66 schools efficiently at $800 per student, I need to listen,” she said.
Ward invited the private companies to join a committee examining the district’s transportation operation.
(Image credit: Columbia (Mo.) Tribune)
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