Owner-Operators, All-Star Describe Services At Special Saturday BOE Meeting

By John Voket

With two bright yellow buses sitting just outside the Newtown High School cafetorium, the local owner-operators represented by Beth Koschel and Carey Schierloh and representatives from All-Star Transportation both gave presentations to and responded to questions from the Board of Education. This meeting represented the latest chapter in a process that began in late May when the school district decided to solicit closed bids for a five-year student transportation contract.

For more than 80 years, the bus services that were recently put out to bid have been provided by a group of owner-operators who each worked with the school district as independent vendors. District officials have said that the owner-operators system is costing taxpayers as much as 40 percent more than the market rate for services that can be provided by an outside bus company.

It is unclear whether this estimate includes the approximately $100,000 it costs the district to administer and staff its own transportation department.

Ms Koschel explained that each owner-operator is bound to operate their bus at least 67 percent of the time, and each is responsible for choosing and overseeing their own substitute drivers from a list approved by the district.

She said all owner-operators are subject to state Department of Motor Vehicles training and licensing criteria, and must pass appropriate physicals, background checks, and are subject to random drug testing. The local drivers undergo training by a two-person team of certified trainers, maintain CPR and first aid certifications, and routinely attend monthly safety classes.

One of the strong points Ms Koschel stressed in her presentation was the immediate availability for owner-operators to respond if needed in emergencies, whether it is for sudden school closings or incidents like a mass evacuation that occurred in 2010 when a sudden, severe storm threatened the outdoor Relay For Life.

“We have been called on in the past and are willing to help in the future at no cost to the town,” she explained. Ms Koschel added that drivers also develop a rapport with parents and caregivers on their routes, and go out of their way to ensure students’ safety.

“If we see a strange car in the driveway, we’ll make a call,” she said. In terms of vehicle maintenance, the owner-operators utilize a half-dozen local garages, including MTM Transportation, which also provides bus services under a separate contract, and Amaral’s garage.

During the question session with the board, Ms Koschel was asked by David Nanavaty if she would be willing to go to work driving for a private company if one is hired. She replied that she could not afford to work for another company based on the rate of hourly pay they provide.

She also confirmed in a written document that 98 percent of the time, the same drivers drive the same route, and she told the board that local drivers who keep their buses at their home are much less likely to suffer from any type of mass vandalism that occasionally occurs at bus storage lots.

All-Star Presentation

John Dufour then moved to the podium and began his presentation about All-Star Transportation assisted by his sister, Leslie Dufour-Sheldon. He detailed the Dufour family’s 75 years of expertise in the transportation business, and more recently as the largest drivers training school in Connecticut under the All-Star Driver brand.

He said the company operates more than 550 vehicles with 650 employees carrying more than 25,000 students annually, earning $35 million in annual sales. He said the company’s safety supervisors have 25 years or more experience and handle both classroom and on the road training, adding that every driver, no matter how experienced, is subject to a safety inspector ride-along at least once per year.

Growing up in a bus garage, Mr Dufour mentioned at one time he could take apart and reassemble a school bus from front to back, and the company prides itself on having numerous ASE (National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence) certified master bus technicians on staff, with a goal to have every mechanic become certified.

“Currently we have 75 percent participation and we’ve applied for ASE Blue-Ribbon status,” he said, adding that the company maintains the only Blue Bird bus company-certified maintenance facility in Connecticut.

If awarded the local contract, Mr Dufour is committed to providing all brand new Blue Bird Vision 77 passenger buses, which are a favorite among his drivers and technicians for their safety, ease of operation, and mechanical integrity.

He reviewed numerous public service projects the company participates in, including an innovative workshop in Torrington that helped educate high school drivers about the dangers of texting while driving.

Mr Dufour also said he is committed to housing all his Newtown buses in town, and has scouted several possible locations if his company is awarded the contract. He said he would try to hire all drivers from among Newtown candidates and would pay a premium hourly rate to experienced drivers, including any owner-operators who decided to come to work for his company.

Under questioning from school board member Debbie Leidlein, Mr Dufour said he is willing to maintain a rate of pay increases at three percent per year for the first four years of the contract, which then jumps to 4.8 percent in the final year.

He said when he crunched the budget numbers, he had to add the higher increase in the final year because of anticipated operational increases — particularly increased maintenance to an aging fleet of Newtown buses.

He also detailed how an integrated GPS system in the new busses can track each vehicle’s location and driving behavior, and that information is kept on record and could be piped into a computer monitor at the school district offices for onsite monitoring if requested.

Following the two presentations, several members of the public and the school board toured each bidder’s bus.