Seneca Valley to approve new school transportation deal
Seneca Valley School District will approve a $70 million contract with a new school transportation service that starts this summer.
The school board said at its March 3 work session meeting it had awarded its student transportation contract to First Student, a school transportation service with over 500 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
The agreement, which will be effective July 1, will span until June 30, 2032. It has a total estimated cost of $70 million. Seneca Valley had previously been under contract with ABC Transit, Inc. and Valley Lines, Inc. since 2016.
The district said in a news release it has negotiated with vendors over the past four months. It selected First Student, with an agreement that will introduce 131 new fleet vehicles that are “equipped with advanced technology systems designed to enhance communication and safety.”
At the district’s March 3 meeting, Todd O’Shell, ABC Transit’s vice president of operations, said during the public comment session they are a “privately owned, responsive business,” that always answers the districts needs, minimizes disruptions and finds solutions. He said ABC Transit wants its relationship with Seneca Valley to continue after the past nine years of working together.
“With that quantity, anything can happen on a daily basis. But we respond with alternatives, changes and solutions so students can get to school. We respond, as no other district function comes close to the amount of intricacies in quantity we deal with, and we’re close to 100% accurate on most days,” O’Shell said.
The district’s news release also stated First Student will offer a higher hourly wage for bus drivers and monitors, along with a sign-on bonus of $2,500 for drivers and $500 for monitors.
Seneca Valley said they transport about 7,440 district students daily, but serve nearly 8,500 students overall due to providing transportation for private and parochial school students within a 10-mile radius.
This new contract for student transportation services comes as bus driver shortages have made the news statewide and nationally ever since the COVID-19 Pandemic.
According to it’s website, First Student provides transportation to about 5.5 million students daily, serving over 19,000 schools in the U.S. and Canada.
