Worcester Public School District to Review Bus Routing, Efficiency

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

In an effort to increase efficiency in the Worcester Public School District bus transportation system and to find additional funding for other ventures, the city of Worcester contracted a group to analyze the current transportation system for the school district.

The report – completed by School Bus Consultants LLC – offered an in depth analysis of a variety of different factors within the Worcester Public School District’s bus transportation system, offering suggestions as to how to improve and save money moving forward.

“This report addresses operational efficiency and effectiveness, transportation policies and procedures, routing practices, a cost benefit analysis of internal busing, analysis of grades 7-12 busing, and opportunities for further cost reductions through additional outsourcing or transportation services,” said Jeff Viar, Project Manager for School Bus Consultants, LLC, in a letter to the city of Worcester. “Observations and recommendations in each of these areas are provided.”

Among the recommendations were to conduct surveys to make sure buses aren’t travelling on routes where they are not needed, increasing the amount of students in each bus, allowing students to opt out of bus transportation, and to reexamine start and end times for schools to make sure that students are making it to school on time.

Easy to Implement

According to Brian O’Connell, a member of the Worcester School Committee, many of these recommendations would not only be more efficient and cost effective, but also easy to implement.

Having worked with School Bus Consultants LLC in the past in the Killingly Public School District in Connecticut, O’Connell knew what to expect from the report. According to O’Connell, the report offers a lot of great recommendations, ones that are sure to save the district money moving forward.

“It is a very well thought out and well researched plan,” said O’Connell. Most of these recommendations are practical common sense suggestions that would allow for us to operate as a district in a more cost effective manner. The focus of the report is to maximize the usage of our school buses, something that is pivotal to all of us.”

One Concerning Recommendation

One recommendation that O’Connell sees as particularly troublesome is the notion that the Worcester Public School District stops busing students from grades 7 through 12.

Although the venture could definitely save the district money, O’Connell fears that it could derail the work of the district in year’s past to improve local graduation and attendance rates. Although some of the students in this grade bracket may have their licenses – another recommendation was to no offer bus services to students who were registered drivers – or may be given rides to school, O’Connell doesn’t want to implement a program that will discourage students from going to school.

“Elimination of bus transportation at the secondary level is one recommendation that is sure to draw a lot of attention and controversy,” said O’Connell. “My concern is that we would ruin our attempts at achieving higher graduation and attendance rates because students wouldn’t be able to make it to school. I never want to jeopardize the education of our students just to save some money.” 

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