9 Buses Called Unsafe; Schools Won’t Renew Firm’s Contract

The San Diego Unified School District has opted not to renew its school bus contract with a firm whose buses have twice been declared unsafe by the California Highway Patrol.

The school board voted Tuesday not to renew its agreement with Paul’s Line, an El Cajon firm that currently provides 52 of the district’s 476 buses, after inspectors from the CHP’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit found the firm’s maintenance procedures to be substandard, said Dan Stephens, director of transportation for the school district.

In inspections carried out at the firm’s shop last week, nine of 36 buses checked were found to be unfit for transporting school children, said Ed Koss, supervisor of Motor Carrier Safety for CHP’s San Diego office.

“They have a problem with their maintenance,” Koss said. “Most of the problems have to do with brakes, steering and suspension, tires and wheels and various equipment violations.”

This is the second time the CHP has pulled Paul’s Line buses off the road, Koss said. In February, 23 of the firm’s buses were grounded while district maintenance crews brought them up to standard. This time, Paul’s Line has agreed to move its maintenance operations into the district’s shop, where they can be supervised for compliance with the state vehicle and administrative codes, Stephens said.

“It’s really a procedures thing that they were caught on--but that’s a concern,” Stephens said. Most of the needed repairs have been performed, he said, and the district will continue to oversee maintenance through the end of the semester.

No one from Paul’s Line would comment. The district could choose to reinstate it as one of the five charter agencies providing bus service if the company brings its maintenance procedures up to standard, Stephens said.

The CHP will make a sneak inspection of other buses from the Paul’s Line fleet in four to six weeks, Koss said. If inspectors are not satisfied with the progress made in monitoring equipment violations, they can ask the district attorney’s office to file charges against the firm, he said.

Stephens said he could remember of only one contractor that had ever been criminally charged for negligence in maintaining school buses. Taylor Bus Service was cited and fined in 1980, but was allowed to keep its contract with the school district, he said.

“Since then, they’ve had one of the best maintenance records (of the district’s bus companies),” Stephens said.