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Transportation is big business in public school system

The manager of transportation and fleet services for the South East Cornerstone Public School Division provided a succinct, numbers driven report to the division’s board of trustees on Nov. 20, during their regular public business session.
EPS school bus
The Estevan Police Service is teaming up with the South East Cornerstone School Division to begin the Yellow and Blue Program. Starting Tuesday, an EPS constable will be riding a random school bus with students to help combat motorists who ignore the stop signs when the bus is stopped.

The manager of transportation and fleet services for the South East Cornerstone Public School Division provided a succinct, numbers driven report to the division’s board of trustees on Nov. 20, during their regular public business session.

Larry Ursu began the report by stating his department is seriously looking at installing GPS systems on the more than 160 buses that ply the highways and grid roads in southeast Saskatchewan, delivering about 4,000 students to their respective schools and home again, five days a week.

“We’re checking the viability and efficiency factors, marking the stop and start times and location tracking,” said Ursu, adding that only a few buses are currently equipped with temporary GPS systems, including some that are hand held units.

In response to a question regarding driver acceptance of this intervention, Ursu said most realize that the installation of such devices would enhance driver safety, as well as student safety, with backup services and quicker responses to emerging problems on the road.

“It’s especially helpful for spare drivers, those who might be covering unfamiliar routes,” he said.

The average age of the bus fleet is also improving with the current average vintage being 2008 models with some being almost brand new, like the 10 new buses the division purchased last year and eight more scheduled for purchase this school year.

Ursu said Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) carried out a surprise audit of the Cornerstone transportation department in October, including all records, driver information statistics and profiles, along with maintenance records, safety inspections and responses to complaints.

“I am happy to report it went very well and we passed the audit, thanks to our staff,” Ursu said.

Several defensive driving courses have been completed by the more than 126 drivers in the system and 31 of them completed first aid training courses.

During the past year, the manager said they had four resignations and one retirement and they had hired four full time drivers as replacements. He currently has four spare drivers in the Weyburn area, seven out of Estevan and five in Moosomin plus others near Oxbow and Carnduff.

He also reported one bus had a complete engine failure in the past couple of years and one other bus that had been written off by SGI.

Ursu reported that 3,277 students were transported daily over 19,367 km along 114 school bus routes in the last school year. This year, there are 3,383 students taking bus rides with an average of 18,821 daily km on 114 routes. A contracted bus/driver service carries another 890 students an average of 8,144 km per day on 42 routes.

With both services included within his department, Ursu said that means 4,273 students are carried for just under 27,000 km per day, for a school-year total of 5,258,915 km.

Included in his statistical report, was the fact that Cornerstone buses and drivers also took 636 extra trips of almost 46,000 km and that did not include charter bus excursions.

There are five office passenger vehicles in the fleet too, and they average just over 153,000 km a year, saving the division about $14,500 per year over other contracted costs or costs of using personal vehicles.

Over the course of the school year, Ursu said he fields several complaints from drivers regarding the current condition of many municipal roads and bridges following successive years of floods and excess moisture conditions. He said Highways 6, 18, 28 and 377 came in for specific and frequent complaints as did roads in the Gladmar and Oungre areas. He said he took to those roads himself and filed a letter of complaint to the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure in July of this year and he noted that many of the concerns were being tended to by August.

“They are not perfect, but much improved,” he told the board.

Ursu also provided a thumbs up report on the recent Yellow and Blue bus safety program implemented in Estevan that sees local police officers riding some school buses within the city, watching for drivers who are disobeying the bus stop signs and lights while also interacting with the students on the way to school or on their way home after classes.

“We are extremely grateful for this proactive approach taken by Estevan Police, There’s a big thank you to Chief Paul Ladouceur,” said Ursu.