Transportation Services is in the process of confirming ridership amongst eligible students and deleting unused stops as the department works to improve service amidst a driver shortage impacting school districts across the country.
To ensure all students have transportation to and from school in the meantime, some drivers are running consolidated or back-to-back routes. While this ensures bus service, it can cause extended delays.
Roughly 90 percent of HISD bus drivers are now completing their required twice-daily bus inspections electronically with Zonar, a fleet management and tracking system implemented by Transportation Services earlier this school year.
The success rate was determined as a result of one-on-one inspections conducted this week by the transportation leadership team at all four bus terminals. The spot checks were completed on-site each morning prior to the start of morning bus routes. Additional random checks will continue.
“We now have the ability to electronically collect fleet data, which is automatically accessible to our fleet maintenance department,” Transportation Services Interim General Manager John Wilcots IV said. “It’s made our manual inspection process obsolete.” Continue reading
HISD Transportation Services kicked off the new year with 41 fewer bus routes — an intentional reduction designed to streamline operations and increase efficiency.
Transportation officials report that operations are running smoothly following the reduction and note they have seen an average of 20 or fewer buses — less than 3 percent of the district’s 860 routes — arriving late to school each morning during the first week of the spring semester. The numbers are tracked manually.
“We’re continuing to look for ways in which we can do better. I believe that we can always improve,” Interim General Manager John Wilcots IV said. “But we’re off to a good start.” Continue reading
HISD transportation managers served a pancake breakfast to bus drivers and school bus personnel Thursday as part of a week of events held to recognize national Love the Bus Month.
Love the Bus Month, created by the American School Bus Council, raises awareness and appreciation in February for the hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers who safely transport children to and from school.
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The derailed train and overturned school bus may have looked like a scene out of a disaster movie, but it actually was part of a very real hands-on training exercise for HISD’s Transportation Services Department.
“Hands-on exercises are a much more effective way to train our employees,” said HISD Transportation Manager Chester Glaude. “To make things more realistic, we’ve added real smoke, fire, and an actual overturned bus.”
Houston's City Hall is awash in yellow in honor of HISD's Transportation Department.
The Houston Independent School District Transportation Department will be recognized by the City of Houston Mayor’s office this month. February is national “Love the Bus” month which raises awareness and appreciation for school bus transportation personnel who work to safely transport children to and from school.