| | Published February 18th, 2008
| New Contractor for Lamorinda School Bus Program
| | By Jean Follmer | | |
The Lamorinda School Bus Program’s (LSBP) contract with Durham School Services will expire at the end of this school year. LSBP recently went out for bid and selected First Student to replace Durham effective August, 2009.
“First Student is a very experienced company with a great reputation and they do this all over the United States,” says LSBP Program Director Juliet Hansen. First Student provided a significantly lower bid than the incumbent. They were able to offer the lower bid because they gave a simultaneous bid to the San Ramon Valley School District. San Ramon has tentatively accepted the First Student bid.
Hansen said LSBP is facing a 20-25% decline in Measure J revenue and sought competitive bids in an effort to preserve routes. Hansen says Lamorinda parents only pay about 33% of the cost to operate the buses. Had LSBP not gone to bid, five routes would have been lost. Even with the savings from First Student, LSBP is going to have to cut one route and Hansen said they don’t know which route will be eliminated.
In addition to the financial benefits of the First Student contract, Hansen says the new buses will be more environmentally friendly than the current buses and will be equipped with seatbelts. “The new clean diesel buses will meet the new 2007 emissions requirements and actually burn cleaner than our older model 1996 CNG buses,” explains Hansen, adding that the newer CNG buses are both cost prohibitive and don’t burn significantly cleaner than clean diesel buses do.
The buses will be equipped with lap-shoulder belts from Safeguard. California is currently the only state to require lap-shoulder belts on new buses; Texas will follow in 2010. The current school buses adhere to compartmentalization standards established by the Federal Government in 1977. Safeguard says the current buses have “heavily padded seat backs that are designed to deform and absorb energy in frontal impacts. This passive protection works in frontal collisions, but does not protect children in rollovers or side impacts. Another limitation of compartmentalization is it does not offer adequate frontal impact protection for the third child in a school bus seat sitting in the aisle position, or if sitting improperly on the seat.”
The current Durham drivers will have the opportunity to interview with First Student. In a written statement, Hansen said “We have been fortunate to have so many wonderful Durham drivers and hope that many of them will join First Student next year.” For additional information, visit www.lamorindaschoolbus.org or call (925)299-3216.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA