The city says its bus system might be unable to accommodate the big influx in ridership expected if the Department of Education eliminates school bus service on Oahu next school year, as is being discussed in a worst-case scenario.
"Our current routes are pretty crowded already," city Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka said Thursday, adding the city is "not in a position financially to be able to expand" service. "We may have difficulty serving them. Our intent is to be helpful if we can. But we’re not sure we can be helpful."
The news comes as DOE officials are working to prioritize school bus routes statewide, determining which can be eliminated first, as it braces for what could be a massive shortfall for student transportation in the 2012-13 school year.
The department has requested $42 million from state lawmakers to preserve student transportation services on Oahu and the neighbor islands. A House version of a supplemental budget bill, though, included less than half that.
State Rep. Marcus Oshiro, chairman of the House Finance Committee, said Wednesday that continued frustration over skyrocketing student transportation costs has "left us terribly dissatisfied." He added that he believes the DOE will be able to fund at least a portion of the student transportation shortfall with savings from vacant positions.
BRACING FOR A SHORTFALL
Department of Education officials are deciding which school bus routes can be cut first:
>> About 39,000 regular-education students statewide ride buses — about half of them for free.
>> Mandated curb-to-curb service also is provided free to about 4,000 special-education students.
>> The DOE has said that if it gets a $25 million appropriation for student transportation, resulting in a $17 million shortfall, service on Oahu may have to be eliminated. The House’s current appropriation for school bus services is $20 million.
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If they don’t have the funds, he said, "they need to come forward and double down and make a strong, compelling case of why they need the additional dollars."
Randy Moore, DOE assistant superintendent for facilities and support services, said Wednesday that if lawmakers stick with the House’s current $20 million appropriation for school bus services in the supplemental budget, there will be "less service" in the coming school year.
How much would be cut is still being determined, but the department has previously said that if it gets a $25 million appropriation (resulting in a $17 million shortfall), student transportation on Oahu may have to be eliminated.
That option wouldn’t affect just the DOE, Moore said. "The end of student transportation on Oahu would crowd (city) buses, would result in more traffic … and would probably adversely affect student attendance," he said.
He also said the DOE would have to pay fees to contractors if it cancels contracts. Those fees could total one-fourth of the annual cost of each contract.
Moore said the DOE is working to determine which bus routes are vital for students and which could be cut with less impact. The DOE has not yet begun a different discussion: whether other programs could be cut to fund school buses.
"All of the consequences (of a shortfall) are deleterious," Moore said.
There has been increasing concern over the rising cost of student transportation, whose price tag has tripled in the last decade, to $76 million in fiscal year 2012, in part because of a dearth of competitive bidding.
The FBI has questioned Hawaii school bus contractors and requested their records, apparently as part of an investigation into whether businesses colluded to push up the cost of services. Contractors deny the allegation.
The House Finance Committee, in a committee report, said the cost of student bus transportation is equal to the combined general fund appropriations for five state departments and the lieutenant governor’s and governor’s offices.
Next year the DOE expects costs to rise to $79.2 million, the committee said.
About 39,000 regular-education students statewide ride buses — about half of them for free because they come from low-income families. Additionally, mandated curb-to-curb service is provided free to about 4,000 special-education students.
The department has said it is working to bring down student transportation expenses, but said work is going slowly because of multiyear bus contracts.
The DOE also points out it has taken steps in recent years to reduce transportation expenses, including by consolidating routes, cutting services and raising bus fares 350 percent since 2009. The most recent fare increase, which went into effect in July, raised the price of a quarterly pass to $72 from $60.
Yoshioka, the city’s transportation chief, said that when the DOE consolidated school bus routes several years ago, it worked with the city to figure out which cuts would have the least impact on the city bus. He said it’s unlikely the city will have that luxury this time around, since remaining school bus routes are in areas where city bus ridership is high.
