Accidents Soar for Companies Hired to Run School Buses

The statewide accident rate for private companies operating school buses has risen dramatically in the last 5 years and is now nearly twice that of buses operated by public and private schools.

According to the California Highway Patrol, California private school-bus companies recorded a low of 4.8 accidents per 1 million miles in the 1983-84 school year. But in the school year that ended in June, the rate was 15.1 accidents for every million miles. During the same 5-year period, the rate for bus fleets operated by public and private schools rose only slightly or dropped.

Education and transportation experts said they cannot explain what caused the increase and are hesitant to say the statistics mean private bus fleets generally are less safe than buses operated by the schools.

“There’s good and bad on both sides of the fence,” said Paula Hanna, executive secretary of the National Assn. for Pupil Transportation, which is based in East Moline, Ill.

But Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said the CHP figures, combined with recent allegations of unsafe bus service in two Santa Clarita school systems, indicate that the time has come to reassess the roles of private school-bus companies.

Former Drivers’ Allegations

At a hearing Tuesday, the Transportation Committee heard former Laidlaw Transit bus drivers accuse that company of using improperly trained drivers in the Newhall School District and the William S. Hart Union High School District. The drivers also said driving instructors falsified training records to make rookie drivers appear more experienced.

Capt. Bill Kelley, commander of the Highway Patrol’s Newhall office, said the combined accident rate for the Hart and Newhall districts was 35.2 mishaps per 1 million miles. The state average for all school buses and vans was 9.2 accidents for every million miles.

“We have some very frightening safety statistics from the private sector,” Katz said.

CHP figures show that in 1983, private school-bus firms had the lowest accident record in California.

Since then, the accident rate has increased each year. The biggest jump occurred between the 1985-86 school year and the 1986-87 year, when the rate rose from 9.8 to 13 accidents per 1 million miles.

In contrast to the private bus companies’ rate of 15.1 accidents for every million miles traveled during the school year that ended in June, the public schools recorded 8.6 accidents. The rate for private schools was only three accidents per 1 million miles.

Rate Better for Vans

Katz speculated that the poor showing by bus companies might be a phase. He suggested that performance standards may have slipped in recent years during management changeovers after major bus firms bought several smaller companies.

And although school bus companies logged dismal accident rates with large buses, their smaller school vans produced only 8.3 accidents per 1 million miles. The accident rate for vans operated by public schools was slightly higher.

The figures indicate there may be serious problems, Katz said. He said the Transportation Committee will investigate the matter sometime next year.

For years, the debate over public and private bus service has surfaced occasionally in education circles. “Unfortunately, there is no quantifiable way of answering the question,” said Bill Paul, publisher of School Bus Fleet, a trade journal based in Redondo Beach.

Paul said that the reporting of school bus accidents is historically uneven and that, depending on the district involved, anything from a collision to a cracked taillight can be classified as an accident.

Kinney added that statistics from rural schools can distort statewide averages because rural roads generally produce fewer accidents than urban roads. He said bus companies are more likely to operate in bustling cities than in sleepy country towns.

Accidents Broadly Defined

Charles O. Baker, coordinator of CHP school bus safety programs, said the agency’s definition of an accident does not mean that a child was injured in a bus mishap.

Of 2,663 school bus accidents recorded by the CHP during the last school year, only 482 produced injuries. None of those were severe, Baker said, but 96 children did receive moderate injuries. Another 467 students involved in the injury accidents “complained of pain” but were not hurt, he said.

The inquiries into Laidlaw Transit’s performance and school bus companies in general will undoubtedly raise questions about transportation funding in the public schools. Ron Kinney, school transportation supervisor for the state Department of Education, said school districts that turn to private bus companies generally do so because they cannot provide the service themselves.

The Hart district, for example, ran a bus fleet for years but switched to private contractors 4 years ago to save money. Superintendent Clyde Smyth said the district, with a $37-million budget, saves more than $400,000 a year contracting with Laidlaw.

Only about 30% of all California school districts hire bus companies today, but that figure could rise as school budgets inevitably become tighter, Paul said. By law, these districts will have to put their transportation contracts out to bid.

Katz said he feared that low bids will mean low wages for drivers and, consequently, low-quality service. In California, bus drivers can earn from $5 to $18 an hour.

Hanna agreed that “a low bid does not always mean the best.” But, he said, school districts have the option of making high wages for bus drivers a condition of awarding their transportation contracts. The problem is that school districts could make such requirements only if they had the money to back them up.

Hanna said school districts nationwide routinely complain that they are under-funded and that transportation costs gobble up funds that would otherwise be spent in the classroom.

“I blame the legislatures,” she said.

SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT RATES IN CALIFORNIA Figures compare the average number of accidents per 1 million miles for school bus systems run by public school districts, those run by private schools and bus service provided by private companies. They do not include school vans holding 16 passengers or less.

School Public Private Bus Year Schools Schools Companies 1979-80 7.4 11.0 11.5 1980-81 7.7 9.9 8.6 1981-82 6.9 13.4 7.6 1982-83 5.4 8.6 7.0 1983-84 5.1 5.0 4.8 1984-85 6.5 9.0 6.8 1985-86 7.5 7.6 9.8 1986-87 7.8 5.7 13.0 1987-88 8.6 3.0 15.1

Source: California Highway Patrol