BUSING Q&A WITH
GEORGE SONTAG
Worthington
Taxpayers have always had questions about how much it costs to bus students, in
no small part due to the fact that every levy campaign always features the
inevitable “elimination
of high school busing” as part of cut lists.
I had a
Q&A exchange with our transportation coordinator, George Sontag. His responses revealed a lot of information about
our busing program. Over the years, many citizens have asked how much can be
saved by eliminating some busing routes, how many students ride the bus and
related questions. Once and for all, I wanted to get these questions answered. Did
you know, for example, that almost half of our students use the buses? I didn’t!
Read on for more information about the district’s transportation efforts.
QUESTION: How many buses would be required if we
eliminated all high school busing.
ANSWER: High School
transportation requires no additional buses but does require labor. Eliminating
it would not reduce the number of buses that we own or use. We also have very
heavy co-curricular usage of our buses while buses are running their routes.
This requires us to have as many as 10 spare buses and sub drivers on the road
at the same time our buses are delivering students to their homes.
QUESTION: How much would be saved in people/maintenance/drivers if we
eliminated all high school busing.
ANSWER: Transportation
of high school students is a service that we offer our parents and students
that is not required under
After
further review, I believe that we could adjust school start times for the
middle schools and the elementary schools to remove the downtime that the drivers
would be paid waiting for the middle school students in the afternoons. This
change would result in a savings of nearly $120,000.00 after reimbursement. One
problem with this change would be the need to adjust school start and end
times. The high schools’ times could be very flexible; however, the other
schools’ times would be based on bus route timing.
QUESTION: How many buses would be
required if we cut busing to state minimums.
ANSWER: We would need
approximately 40 buses or half our current fleet. Such cuts would seriously cut
into the service that is currently expected by our parents. This would
undoubtedly affect not only transportation but education for students that
could not arrange for rides or walk in inclement weather.
QUESTION: How much would be saved
in people/maintenance/drivers if we cut busing to state minimums.
ANSWER: Approximately $750,000.00 per year not including
vehicle cost.
QUESTION: How much do we spend on bus maintenance now?
How much could be saved with newer buses requiring less maintenance.
ANSWER:
|
Year |
Cost |
New Buses That Year |
|
2002-2003 |
192493 |
4 |
|
2003-2004 |
211278 |
4 |
|
2004-2005 |
205704 |
18 |
|
2005-2006 |
192493 |
1 |
As you observe the history
of our costs you can see the direct correlation between new vehicles and
decreased repair costs. During the summer of 2004/2005 we were able inspect 18
new buses and sell 18 high mileage rusting vehicles. Although we received only
one new bus during the 2005/2006 year, our costs remain much lower than in
previous years. I anticipate slightly higher costs for 2006/2007 but hopefully
this can be reduced by purchasing buses delivered prior to July 2007.
School bus chassis are
warranted for approximately 5 years but the bodies for only 1 year. The buses generally
begin to develop repair needs in the fourth year.
QUESTION: Are there any other tangible savings that
would occur from the purchase of new buses?
ANSWER: Used buses will
generate a small amount of revenue. Better fuel mileage saves money while newer
engines save our environment. Those receiving the greatest benefit from the
exhaust reduction are the students that ride the buses.
QUESTION: What is wrong with the
existing buses. They clearly got the job done last
year and the year before. Are the number of breakdowns
increasing? Are they too costly to maintain? Are there safety issues and if so,
how do you respond to the charge that we are currently driving unsafe buses?
ANSWER: On
average our fleet of 81 buses has over 118,000 miles and is 10 years old. We
have very qualified mechanics that do an excellent job keeping our fleet safe
and mechanically maintained. A school bus engine should last approximately
175,000 to 200,000 miles with good maintenance. We currently have 10 buses in
excess of 200,000 miles. Unfortunately time, salt and potholes make body and
structure repairs very cost prohibitive. Half of our fleet is in excess of 10
years old. Short of replacing new bodies onto old chassis (a practice that is
no longer available in our state), we must patch floors and bodies almost
annually on the older buses as the rust moves much like cancer.
Our buses
undergo a thorough inspection biannually by the
There are
certainly many other reasons to purchase new buses: Better fuel efficiency, more environmentally
friendly and certainly more safety features are included with new equipment.
QUESTION: How many kids, broken
down by Elementary/Middle/High, ride the buses each day? How many would be eligible at each level if
we cut to state minimums?
ANSWER:
|
GRADES |
BUS RIDERS |
ELIGIBLE IF CUT TO STATE MINIMUMS |
|
ELEMENTARY (K-6) |
2587 |
636 |
|
MIDDLE (7-8) |
1064 |
435 |
|
HIGH (9-12) |
1350 |
0 |
Exceptions (at the high schools) would be to transport to and
from