Bus company says it can save Youngstown schools $500K

By Harold Gwin

The proposal outlines some specific changes the district must be willing to accept.

YOUNGSTOWN — Community Bus Services Inc. says it can save the city school district $500,000 on its transportation costs, but the guarantee will require some changes.

Among other things, the district must be willing to cut its current 51 bus routes to 40, said Terry Thomas, CBS president.

Thomas presented a transportation management proposal to the school board’s business committee Monday, laying out a strategy that would reduce the approximately $6 million the district now pays to transport pupils by $500,000 a year.

In addition to reducing the number of routes, the proposal calls for all district transportation policies to be updated and for a review of the transportation services now being provided to charter schools as well as the replacement of three buses a year at a cost of $240,000.

There are steps the district can force charter schools to take to ensure that it is city children being carried to their buildings, Thomas said.

He is also insisting that the school board and his company agree on a third party who can ensure that the district complies with the terms of the agreement. The state Financial Planing and Supervision Commission — which controls district finances as Youngstown works to emerge from fiscal emergency — could perform that function, Thomas said.

Business committee members said the proposal will have to go through the board’s finance and audit committees before it goes to the full school board.

Members of Local 1143 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents the district bus drivers, had some concerns about the CBS plan.

Chuck Pulice, AFSCME president, questioned CBS’ starting numbers, saying there is perhaps an additional $300,000 in busing revenue coming from services to parochial and other schools that isn’t reflected in the CBS numbers.

It’s money that is paid directly into the general fund for services rendered, he said.

Thomas said that money should be easily accounted for and will be included when the business committee meets on the issue again April 20.

There was also concern raised by the union regarding how the bus routes would be cut from 51 to 40 without stepping on the collective bargaining agreement now in place.

Committee members Michael Murphy and Lock P. Beachum Sr. both said they won’t touch the union contract.

Thomas said after the meeting that any cuts in personnel could perhaps come through attrition.

CBS will pick up the $160,000 tab to outfit 40 district buses with digital video recorder/global positioning system devices to track routes, as well as the $200,000 in personnel and materials costs to handle the rerouting implementation, he said.

What the proposal didn’t show was what CBS would be paid for its management services.

That will be worked out in negotiations if the school board opts to proceed, Thomas said.

Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, said Youngstown has already been able to trim transportation costs for the 4,900 pupils carried on district buses by $1.2 million annually over the last few years.

That included the elimination of 13 bus routes, getting a new contract for carrying special-needs children and consolidating the transportation department on property off Martin Luther King Boulevard on the city’s West Side.

gwin@vindy.com