Costs for transporting public school students have risen 33% from 2008 to 2018, reaching, on average, $1,152 per student transported. The reasons behind this shift include higher labor costs, various forms of school choice requiring longer commutes from students' neighborhoods, and environmentally friendly upgrades to bus fleets. As a result, some…

The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center (REMS) has created a list of resources on the role of K-12 transportation directors in school safety efforts. The list includes the following categories: (1) Preparing for Emergencies on School Buses--(a) Adversarial and Human-Caused Threats; and (b) Technological…

The revised minimum standards for school bus chassis and school bus bodies have been prepared in conformity with the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) for school bus transportation. The standards recommended by the 2010 National Conference on School Transportation and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) promulgated by the U. S.…

Telematics describes the integration of vehicle-based hardware (for example, a Global Positioning System and a cellular communication unit) to transmit real-time data to a remote location for instant collection, processing, and subsequent transmission of actionable information to decision makers. While personal GPS is a great tool, it provides the…

With tighter education budgets for support service, some districts must consider other means of providing transportation service for students with disabilities. Some districts have used creative strategies, such as optimizing class locations, sharing service with other districts, using other modes of transportation, and consulting transportation…

California legislators swiftly passed a budget bill last week aimed at sheltering school busing dollars from a midyear budget cut many districts and advocates said particularly hurt rural school systems, along with urban districts with desegregation plans. While the measure, which Gov. Jerry Brown was expected to sign into law, would restore $248…

Whenever a school district considers changing bus stops, bus routes, or bell times, the public reaction is often decidedly unequal to the magnitude of the changes proposed. Unfortunately, the severity of continued budget crises has compelled many school districts to make major changes to their transportation systems. While additional cuts in…

Since transportation expenses constitute 7% to 10% of a typical school budget, it is not surprising that transportation departments have been under a microscope lately. Everyone on the district's decision-making team, from the school board and school superintendent to the managers who oversee each component of the transportation department, is…

The revised minimum standards for school bus chassis and school bus bodies have been prepared in conformity with the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) for school bus transportation. The standards recommended by the 2005 National Conference on School Transportation and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) promulgated by the U. S.…

Violence and natural catastrophes have made schools and universities more vigilant about protecting students and staff on their campuses. Students and workers also need to get to and from their schools, and once on a campus, they need to get from one facility to another. In this article, the author suggests that administrators must make sure…

This article reports that with fuel prices soaring nationwide, reaching more than $4 for each gallon of gas or diesel, school districts are struggling to supplement transportation-budget shortfalls and find ways to offset the increasing costs as a new school year approaches. Now districts--most of whose buses run on diesel fuel--are scrambling to…

Riding on a school bus is one of the safest forms of transportation in the U.S. Every year 450,000 public school buses travel more than 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children to and from school and school related activities. Students are reportedly eight times safer on the school bus than they are in cars. However, the percentage of…

Pupil transportation is an essential part of the overall school program, which requires constant supervision and direction. Perhaps no other phase of the school program is more closely observed by the public or has a greater tendency to mold public opinion about the schools than the school bus system. The success of any school district pupil…

New school bus safety guidelines went into effect last May. The safety measures are voluntary and their purpose is to help state officials as they review school bus standards. Summarizes accident statistics and briefly describes some of the more serious accidents involving school buses. (MLF)

School transportation industry statistics show the annual average costs for operating and maintaining a single school bus range from $34,000 to $38,000. Operating a school bus fleet at high efficiency has a real impact on the dollars saved for a school district and the reliability of transportation service to students. In this article, the author…