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E-mail Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > June > 30 > Entry
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)
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Happy in the North
July 2, 2008 11:51 PM | Link to this
Hey Bugs, I do believe the Board should not be spending money advocating a levy that is deemed to fail. Who can afford more taxes? I sure cannot. My gasoline expense to get to work has more than doubled, Vectren is telling me my natural gas bill will increase 50%, groceries are sky-rocketing. But my paycheck is no where keeping up with all these increases. I use to consider myself a middle class income citizen, now I am getting much closer to a lower class income citizen. With all the jobs leaving Dayton, who can shelve out more money to support a levy??? I can not. So, the powers to be should realize this and cut back on all the frillies the upper management and stupidvisors get. Tighten the belts folks. I have to.
By dayton driver
July 2, 2008 12:24 AM | Link to this
Everyone wants their cake and to eat it too. As long as there is school choice, NOBODY will be able to fix the problem. Jon Husted has created a giant privatized bureaucracy within’ the bureacracy. Why is this so hard for everyone to understand? As long as any child at any address within’ the city can attend one of over 60 schools, this problem with exist. Why is this so hard for everyone to understand?
By bugs
July 1, 2008 10:01 PM | Link to this
The bus deal is just a heads up to the public that a levy is coming up soon. This is a forced way to get the ball rolling- So pass the levy in November and you will see buses doing business as uaual.
By Important debate
July 1, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this
Tone down the flaming! I think this is an important debate to be had. Most everyone agrees that DPS transportation is inefficient and too costly. Is a private company the answer? Maybe. A better answer is bring in some professionals to run the current system and FIX IT, for crying out loud. Oh, and those who are screaching at DPS teachers, one comment: if you believe you can do a better job, please come and take a try.
By Laura
July 1, 2008 3:32 PM | Link to this
Charterschoolhater, your rant makes no sense. I did not “advocate” anyone losing a job. However, this discussion is about finding a SOLUTION to a FINANCIAL problem. If that requires outsourcing the contract, then that should be up for consideration. That does not necessarily mean that the current bus drivers would lose their jobs. “Old Bus” brought up a good point about ServiceMaster. They were brought in and did a horrible job- but they were allowed to get away with it. (“By the way, few, if any, custodians lost their jobs when ServiceMaster took over.) With all of your complaints about the way the transportation dept. has been operating and treating you and your children, I would think, you, of all people, would want to see some improvement. You say they need to hire “better drivers” through “better managers”, perhaps that is exactly what would happen if the transportation dept. were outsourced. And considering you know nothing about my teaching ability, it is unbelievable that you would make such a ridiculous statement all because I say we should consider something that could give you exactly the results you want. I find it interesting the number of people who are down on a couple of teachers who are willing to look outside the box for a solution. I can just imagine the complaints we would get if we, as teachers, had said the bus drivers should keep their jobs just to keep things “status quo”. In these new economic times, there may be times you have to choose fiscal responsibility (and I did not say safety or job quality) over some people’s jobs. If the choice is outsourcing or no high school bus service, I’ll choose outsourcing. No matter what we said, someone would have a complaint.
By Concerned Mom of 3
July 1, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this
Force the issue of neighborhood schools. There will be less kids to transport- and less distance to transport them! How many school board members does it take to figure that one out??? As far as the comment about the quality of DPS bus service versus the quality of service a privately contracted company would provide??? I have some comments about that… There are only a few competent people in the transportation department. The competent ones never stay in a position for very long. A couple of specific examples are Mr. Jeeter and Mr. Raiff… My kids and I have a long list of negative experiences with the DPS transportation department… (My friends in the suburban districts think I am joking when I tell them the problems we have.) The service can’t get much worse than what DPS already attempts to provide. All I hear from the incomptent people in the transportation department is a bunch of excuses about why my kid was repeatedly late to school- or why my special ed kid was dropped off with the neighbor- or why my kid has to stand in a lightning storm to wait for the bus instead of under a porch. A little common sense, please!!! I have to wonder if the people in DPS’s transportation department have had to pass any proficiency exams… Very few have shown me that they know how to do the job right. (OK- I’ll quit now… this is one of the issues that really gets under my skin.)
By the expert
July 1, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
Safety SHOULD NOT be an issue if DPS hires the private company, obviously emphasis added there for a reason. Private yellow buses are held to the same standard as public yellow buses … they have to follow the same state regulations for operations, the same vehicle specs and the same federal motor vehicle safety standards. Their bus drivers also all must be trained the same way.
By Oldprof
July 1, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
Kathy—they DO let students enroll in elementary schools in their own neighborhoods. But thanks to the “school choice” myth, few of them do. Rather, each parent gets to choose from any DPS school—plus any of the 27 charter schools scattered about the city—and DPS must provide busing for all of them, including the charters (and in some cases, even private schools). Since school choice has failed to deliver any of its promises, we’d be wise to abandon the idea and return to the days when public education was done to meet the needs of the public, rather than the whims of partisan think tanks and self-centered parents.
By Daytonian
July 1, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
So why are we still doing forced cross-town busing?
By Old Scratch
July 1, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
On a corner near my fabulous Dayton estate a few years back stood fourteen students, on what should be a low traffic street. I counted eleven school buses that passed my house. Privatize now!
By dirk sniggler
July 1, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this
How about we start judging teachers as a monolith DPS Teacher? Are YOU gladly willing to be judged by the lowest common denominator among your peers? Because that’s exactly what you did to the bus drivers in your rant.
By Old Bus
July 1, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
The transportation company that wants to transport Dayton kids is out for the money. They tell you cheap to get in then rase prices. Dayton schools should look at past contracts they signed with people such as Servicemaster. It didn’t work then and it won’t save you money now. Dayton schools needs to hire experanced transportion people to run it instead of picking people from other departments that have NO experance.If you want a good transportation department, hire someone with knowledge of school transportation.They haven’t done that in 20 years.With the right experanced managers and routers you could transport Dayton kids for half what it cost now and not waste time and money with outside people.
By painfultruth
July 1, 2008 7:12 AM | Link to this
The people running the DPS are as brainless as a pile of pea gravel. The DPS has such a poor history of operations, it should be scrapped completely. Bring in some experienced businesspeople, not “educators” and politicians. Straighten out this mess NOW! The DPS is a poor joke at best, and with education being a basic need, why do the people of Dayton continue to accept this travesty?
By John Waldren
July 1, 2008 6:47 AM | Link to this
What’s wrong with the riding the rta to school? I did it when I went to high school. I even rode it to a job after school, and then home after work. School is supposed to be a learning experience, and you learn lots riding public transportatin.
By Mr. wizard
July 1, 2008 6:14 AM | Link to this
As someone whom worked for one of the private companies. I can say this from my experience. Most of the drivers were underpaid, therefore attracting not so responcible people. I have seen them smoking marajuana before and during there routes, and there special thing to do after there route was to drag race the school buses! As for my thoughts on how to correct the bus issue.. Make the people they have now accountable. If a private company can make money, the schools should be able to as well.
By charterschoolhater
July 1, 2008 1:31 AM | Link to this
This is for you edy, Laura, and DPS Teacher. NO where on this blog has one bus driver advocated contracting out some of the lousy teachers jobs in this lousy school district. You teachers in Dayton live in glass houses and should not throw stones. I feel it is really nervy and for a school teacher to be advocating the loss of jobs by many people who may be parents of your own students. You should be ashamed of yourself Dayton Teacher, and Laura. As for you edy, I am a parent of a bus rider, too, and have filed numerous complaints about the bus service When you get no more than lip service from the supervisors at DPS transportation, you come to the realization that the problem too many lousy supervisors who refuse to manage. How ever, it the management’s responsibility to get competent employees. When they fail, it the management’s fault. not the employees. That is why they get paid the big bucks. We would have better drivers if the board of ed hired better managers. I am so glad that my children do not attend the public schools. That way I can be assured that they would not be taught by you Dayton Teacher, and Laura. I am ashamed that my tax money is being used to pay you both.
By charterschoolhater
July 1, 2008 1:14 AM | Link to this
Lori Ward needs to make sure she invites representatives from the Bus drivers union to be part of that committee that she just invited the contractors to be a part of as well. Only then will the board of ed have balanced data on the issue.
By DPS teacher
July 1, 2008 12:30 AM | Link to this
The inefficiency of the transportation has always amazed me. At my school last year, there was 1 bus that picked up 2 kids! These were not special needs kids either. DPS has gotten away with inefficiency in the system for so long that it has become institutional and generational. The district has contorted itself to meet the whims and demands of parents for so long that it is lazy and will not explore solutions that does not fit into its narrow institutional way of doing things. But what do you expect from a bureaucracy? The district sees itself as a parent for its families because it thinks they can’t take care of themselves. DPS provides everything for students: school supplies, clothing, medical care, food and just about everything else. The district is a poor extension of the failed social programs of the federal government. Having private companies bus students is a valid option and should be explored seriously, although I wonder if Lori Ward is qualified to make an informed recommendation. Many of her actions have been questionable. And by the way, buses can be shut down for a few moments when waiting for students, except in extreme cold weather. But then again drivers couldn’t go and smoke and talk on their cell phones off property.
By Joaniesgarden
June 30, 2008 10:25 PM | Link to this
Most choking smoke problems start with vehicle maintenance, Here are some reasons for smoking diesel engines * Black smoke = Unburned Diesel * Blue smoke = Engine oil being burnt. * White smoke is normally �steam� which means water is vaporizing. If it is white �smoke� then it could be a result of low engine temperature. White Smoke will smell of unburned diesel - White �Steam� will not. A diesel engine, if not equipped with a preheater will have starting problems in colder weather, hence when school starts. I know of very few drivers able to plug their engine into an electrical outlet to keep the oil warm.
By Here's why
June 30, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this
One reason bus drivers kept the busses running was for fear that if they shut them off, they wouldn’t be able to restart them! 2nd reason: because until recently diesel fuel was dirt cheap and it was actually less economical to constantly start them. As to why a private might be a bad idea: because they will promise the sky for a pittance and then realize they can’t deliver. Students will be later to school than they are now, dropoffs will push up to 6pm or later and some students won’t get picked up at all. Right now the district has SOME ways of maintaining accountability. With a private company they will lose a lot of it. And then, 2 or 3 years from now when the private company pulls out of the contract because they underbid it, Dayton will have to invest in a new fleet of busses to replace the ones that weren’t being used. Fix the problem in-house. It can be done. Everyone will be a lot happier.
By edy
June 30, 2008 9:27 PM | Link to this
If high school students are forced to find their own way to school if they live over 1.5 miles from their neighborhood school there’s a good chance that the drop out rate will increase and parents who can’t afford the gas to transport their kid to school will be thrown into the courts system for truancy. Are all the high schools on a busline and how many transfers must a student make before dawn and in subzero weather to get there? Sell the busses and hire the private company. It can’t be any worse than the DPS idiots who play sick and then the sub busdriver forgets my grandkids at the busstop so they miss school or we have to scramble to find them a way to school. DPS wouldn’t know a good thing if it bit them on the nose.
By karon
June 30, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this
Will this private bus service have the safety as the service they have now? Anything run privately is more profit base and can be poor service!
By kathy
June 30, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this
If they would let the students go to schools in their own neighborhoods they wouldn’t have to waste BILLIONS on Fuel, wages, insurance, maintenance,etc. etc. etc.
By Laura
June 30, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this
As a teacher who has stood outside and been repeatedly nauseated by the smell of deisel exhaust because the buses sit and idle, I have wondered for a long time, why bus drivers feel a need to sit for long periods of time with a bus idling. I’d love to hear a bus drivers rationale, if there is one. As far as the busing issue, I think it is pathetic that the board is just now getting around to thinking about what they are going to do for the coming school year. They have had an entire year to think about it. Surely they can’t say they thought there would be some money magically appear! And if Mr. Thomas of Community Bus Services company says he can do as good a job at a cheaper rate, why is there a question at all??