We recently renewed our PreK transportation contract via an rfp. The awarded bid is significantly higher than our previous rate. We are now paying per bus, not per child. Additionally, there is a genuine shortage of school bus drivers throughout our region. We are trying to hire some drivers as part time employees of our county to alleviate the odd route bringing a lower number of child/ren and potentially curb costs. We encourage families to transport their own child and pay them mileage. Do counties have any other ideas or creative approaches they are doing to assist in keeping transportation costs lower?

Next week we will be switching to paying per bus not per child in hopes of saving money. We also entered into a contract that begins next week with VMC Group ( a consulting firm) that has worked with other counties in the State to help assist with trying to lower the transportation costs. I would like to see other counties responses. Any ideas are worth looking at with the cost of transportation going up significantly in the last few years for our counties.

Oneida County contractors are also experiencing a shortage of certified bus drivers at this time. One of our contractors’ travels through Madison County transporting children to program sites within or close to Oneida County. We have had our transportation management group work to reroute Oneida/Madison County kids so all seats on this contractors’ buses are filled. We have comingled with Madison County in the past, but this is the first time we’ve utilized this type of ride sharing with increased numbers. Each of our county’s has an agreement with this same vendor. We’re hoping this provides a solution to the driver shortage while maintaining the safety and efficiency of our transportation program.

Our transporters are having a very difficult time finding drivers lately. We recently had one of our bus companies drop out and had to put out the route for quotes from our remaining transporters, the quotes that came in were much higher than expected which has increased our costs tremendously. We do co-mingle with our bordering Onondaga and Oneida counties when at all possible which has resulted in cost savings.

We encourage families to self transport and reimburse federal mileage rate, currently 58 cents per mile. We reimburse for two round trips daily, from home to program and back home and then from home to pick up child at program and return home. Transportation costs are an ongoing challenge for us all. I would be interested in hearing about your efforts to hire a driver and how that works out.

First and foremost we meet and engage with our school districts several times per year and encourage them to seek the most appropriate provider location based on the Least restrictive environment and where the child resides. Typically , The school district approves the program and the program location that the child will attend. While they are supposed to offer PMR as the first means of transportation many districts may only offer busing.

Location of the provider school is one of our greatest cost drivers and something that we cannot always control. We strongly encourage the use of our Parental Mileage Reimbursement program which pays parents/guardians to transport children to and from their program. This provides a more comfortable setting for the child and drives down costs for the county.

There are several indicators we look for on a monthly basis that help us monitor the direction of costs and trends developing.

These key indicators are :

1. Average # of children on a route
2. Low occupancy vehicles ( we look to combine where possible)
3. Average # of vehicles used per month
4. Average # of trips per month

We have a process in place where approval by the County is needed before our bus vendors can add a vehicle in service.

Looking at these #’s on a monthly basis helps us identify bad trends developing which directly relate to increased costs and enable us to react in a timely matter.

Rockland County recently entered into a new transportation contract, and continues to pay per bus. The bids were considerably higher than previous rates. Bus driver shortages were mentioned, however Rockland now understands the bus company has an excess of drivers. The county does not employ drivers. Rockland does encourage families to transport children, however payment is limited to the time the child is actually in the vehicle. Rockland also contracts with a company to monitor and oversee the bus company. The oversight includes development of the routes, which provides the most efficient transportation at the lowest possible cost.