Transportation Babylon UFSD - Home - Babylon K-6 PTAbabylon.my-pta.org/.../TransportationPresentation03... · 2014-2015 Transportation Budget Page 5 Prepared by Robyn Silvestri, [email protected],

Babylon UFSD Transportation

A Road Map for Fact Finding03/16/15

Prepared by Robyn Silvestri, tel. 631-848-0210, [email protected] parent, Based on info received from Babylon School District under Freedom of Information Act.

Good evening. My name is Robyn Silvestri. I’m a district parent with four

children in Babylon School District. After struggling to get my transportation

issues resolved with the District, I became curious as to what service are we

providing district residents for $2.2 million dollars per year?

To satisfy that curiosity, I filed a Freedom of Information letter & asked for

copies of the transportation budget, the bus contracts, the request for

proposals when the contracts were bid out, the small & large bus routes, and

more.

I started out hoping to improve routing to better serve the needs of the

community by suggesting changes to our current transportation policy and

routing. But as I delved deeper into the documentation provided I was struck

by its inefficiencies.

mailto:[email protected]

The presentation I’m about to make is based on the data received from District

Administration. I’m truly hoping the data is somehow incomplete and there will

be a logical and reasonable explanation for what I’m about to present. Under

the FOI Act, the district was obliged to provide full disclosure based on the

request. It is a lot of information so I encourage you to note any questions you

may have as we go along. It is broken down into three main sections: the large

bus contract, the small bus contract and the bidding process. It answered as

many of my questions, as it posed new ones. I invite you to draw your own

conclusions from the data.

K-12 Student Enrollment down 17.5%

Page 3 Prepared by Robyn Silvestri, [email protected], tel. 631-848-0210 2/3/15District parent based on info received from Babylon School District under Freedom of Information Act

Data collected from NYS DOE School Report Cards.

Let’s start with some historical context. Student Enrollment in Babylon School District is down nearly 18% since 2001.


Transportation Expenditures up 108%


Data collected from NYS Open Book website.

In the same time span, district transportation expenditures have more than doubled, from just over $1 million in 2001-2002 to nearly $2.2 million dollars in 2013-2014.


2014-2015 Transportation Budget


Here is our current transportation budget nearly $2.3 million.


Students Served


These are the total number of students served.

491 in-district students qualify for the bus

90 Private school students

40 Special Education students

57 Boces Students


Contractor: John Bosch Bus Inc.

John Bosch Bus Co is the sole district transportation provider.

● Large buses contract - services K-12 students (491 ) & BOCES (57)

● Small buses contract - services Special Ed (40) & Private (90)

● Athletics & field trips are pay-as-you-go services


We currently contract exclusively with John Bosch Bus Co. located here in Babylon Village. We have a large bus contract that services the K-12 & BOCES students and a small bus contract that services Special Ed & Private School students. According to Dr. Daly, athletics and field trips are pay-as-you-go services. Despite FOIL-ing all bus contracts, the district did not provide documentation as to how athletics & field trips are calculated.


Current Contract Values

● Large buses contract serves 548 students @ $589,373/year

● Small buses contract services 130 students @ $1,742,609/year

● Athletics & field trip data was not provided by the district.


Our large bus contract serves 548 students and is valued at $589,373 this

year.

Our small bus contract serves 130 students and is valued this year at

$1,742,609.

I was not provided with numbers on how athletics or field trips are calculated.


Contract vs. Budget


$589,373 Large bus contract$1,742,609 Small bus contract

$2,331,982 Excluding athletics & field trips

>$2,284,776 Budget for 2014-2015

I’m a numbers person. And numbers must add up. But if you add those two contract numbers together, they amount to $2.33 million dollars. Our budget for this year is $2.28 million. I am unsure as to how we can sign contracts for more than we actually budgeted, particularly when it doesn’t even include all line items.


Large Bus “Contract”


● Renewal invoice, not a contract

● 11 large buses @ $53,579 per bus = $589,373

Let’s start with the Large Buses. In response to my FOI request for the bus contracts, district provided these two pages for the large bus agreement. This is not a contract. This is a renewal invoice. The full contract should outline specific duties & responsibilities. However, I included this so you can see where the following numbers stem from. We contract for 11 buses @ $53,579/bus.


1.Run BMGS


1

2

3

4

5

Also under the FOI law, I requested the routing documents for both the large

and small buses, namely where do the buses go and how many students are

they supposed to pick up along the way. I received the following.

Our buses make 2 runs.

Run 1: HS/BMGS Routes, 1-8 including the Beach

Run 2: BES Routes, 1-8 including the Beach


1.Run BMGS


6

7

8/Beach


2.Run BES


1

2

3


2.Run BES


4/Beach

5

6

7

8


Question to Dr. Daly


I had to ask for clarification: We pay for 11 buses at $53,579 / bus but I only

counted 8 large bus routes. Dr. Daly responded that we have 10 routes. The

eight routes provided plus a large Beach bus and a large BOCES bus.

However, the large beach bus is already counted in the original 8 routes.

In addition, no routing data was provided for a large bus going to the BOCES

program. The BOCES data that has been provided shows that these students

are in fact serviced using small buses.


Large Bus Issue #1: Total Routes

● Contract & pay for 11 large buses.

● Routing data shows we use 8 large buses.

● District charged for at least three unused, large buses @ $53,579 per bus.

$160,737 per year


This leads me to the first issue with the Large Bus Contract: We pay for 11 large buses but routing data shows we use 8. Three large bus have no routing data. At $53,579 per bus that’s $160,737 per year we are spending on buses that aren’t going anywhere.


Run 1: BMGS Routes

Unofficial maps prepared using bus routes provided under FOIA. Intended for illustrative purposes only.

● Tan: One stop, route run = 5 min.

● Yellow/Gold/Orange provide 180 seats for 85 qualifying students.

● Blue: One stop @ Argyle Lake

● Blue/Tan/Pink/Yellow: Students walk up to a mile to nearest stop

BMGS (237 + 15 riders)

1) Blue 37 22 min

2) Gold 22 12 min

3) Green 44 31 min

4) Orange 30 19 min

5) Pink 43 24 min

6) Tan 28 5 min

7) Yellow 33 22 min

8) Beach 15 65 min

Let’s now take at the current in-town routing. Four years ago, the DOE interpreted the Transportation section of the law and instructed districts to route their buses for efficiency. Our bus routes have remained largely unchanged since at least 2008, likely much longer. The format of the data provided did not present a clear picture. So I drew one using the information at hand.Run 1: BMGS Routes. Considered in this run are seven in-town routes, named as colors. We have one route that has a total of one stop and a runtime of 5 minutes. We use 3 full size buses to send 180 seats to an area of town that only has 85 qualifying students. In addition, the service provided to the narrow areas & dead end streets actually encourages parents not to take the bus as they must walk up to nearly a mile to get to the nearest stop.

Run 2: BES Routes

● Blue: Full route for 17 students

● Yellow/Gold/Tan routes: provide 180 seats for 99 students.

● Blue: One stop services the entire Argyle Lake area.

● Blue/Yellow/Pink: Students on dead ends walk up to nearly a mile to nearest stop

Unofficial maps prepared using bus routes provided under FOIA. Intended for illustrative purposes only.

BES (229 + 10 riders)

1) Blue 17 13 min

2) Gold 30 19 min

3) Green 33 24 min

4) Orange 41 21 min

5) Pink 39 22 min

6) Tan 42 25 min

7) Yellow 27 20 min

8) Beach 10 64 min

On the 2nd run, a similar situation appears. One 60 passenger bus is routed to pick up 17 children, if everyone actually got on. Ten of those 17 live in the Argyle area which means a walk of up to ½ mile to get to the bus stop. That same cluster of three buses goes to the southeast corner of the Village where on this run 99 students qualify. The narrow areas & dead end streets bus stops are set up in the same way as the previous run.

Reroute: BMGS

DOE: Must route for efficiency

# of buses needed in-town for 237 students when routed for efficiency:

4BMGS (237 riders)

1) Blue 58

2) Purple 60

3) Green 57

4) Red 57

In a matter of a couple of hours, with a printout of the village and the existing route data, I plotted out what efficient bus routes might look like. With a seat reserved for every eligible student, though we are not obliged to, Babylon School District could service it’s in-town routes using four not seven large buses. Yes, this would make bus routes have a bit longer run times, but remember our Village is only less than two square miles.

Reroute: BES

DOE: Must route for efficiency

# of buses needed for 229 in-town students when routed for efficiency:

4BES (229 riders)

1) Blue 50

2) Purple 62

3) Green 45

4) Red 59

I tested to see if the same would hold true for the BES run. It does.

Large Bus Issue #2: In-Town

● Paying for 7 large buses (420 seats)

● Routing data shows we only need 4 large buses (240 seats).

● District paying for three unnecessary large buses @ $53,579 per bus.

Another $160,737 per year


This is issue #2: 7 buses are being paid for when four buses would meet our needs. We have been paying for three unnecessary buses. That’s a waste of another $160,737 per year.


Let’s Add That Up So Far

● Pay for 11 buses.

● 4 needed for in-town + 1 for the the Beach = 5 total buses

● = 6 buses @ $53,579 per that not used or needed.

$321,474And we pay extra for athletics & field trips.


We pay for 11 buses. 4 needed for in-town + 1 for the the Beach = 5 total buses. But we pay for 11. That’s six extra buses we are paying for @ $53,579 per bus that we either don’t use or don’t need. That adds up to $321,474. And we pay extra for field trips & athletics.


Beach Buses

● Pay for 1 large bus to make the two runs to the beach in the am & pm

● Run 1: 15 students● Run 2: 10 students● Better served by a small bus.● Run 1 am: large bus.● Run 2 am: small bus. Costs less - savings passed along?● PM run is a large bus that picks up at HS/BMGS/BES in

one run. Not two separate runs. Savings accounted for?Page 23 Prepared by Robyn Silvestri, [email protected], tel. 631-848-0210 2/3/15

District parent based on info received from Babylon School District under Freedom of Information Act

Let’s take a look at the Beach buses. According to the routing data, we pay for

a large bus to go over to the Beach on the two runs. On the run 1, it is slated

to pick up 15 students. On run 2: 10 students. This route would be more

economically served using a small bus. Run 1 is a large bus. Run 2 is in fact a

small bus. Now the small bus costs less than the large bus, not a lot, but it’s

still $1200 less. Is this savings being passed along as Bosch is not using the

large bus? Further, in the afternoon, there is a single run to the beach which

picks up at all three schools before heading back to the beach. Are these

savings of using one less bus in the afternoon accounted for?


Request for Proposal (RFP) 2008


Finally, on the large buses, under the Request for Proposal, it indicates how time is calculated for the purposes of this contract.


Large Bus Issue #3: Time Contracted

● 8,140 = # hours contracted (11 x 4 x 185)

● 2,515 = # hours used return routes BMGS (1,282) + BES (1,233)

● 5,625 = # of excess hours contracted & paid under large bus contract

But athletics & field trips are extra, pay-as-you-go services.


This leads to issue #3 on the large bus contract. According to the renewal

documents and confirmed by District, we pay for 11 buses for four hours a

day.

8140 = number of hours contracted (11 buses x 4 hours x 185 days per year)

2515 = number of hours actually used according to the routing data

That leaves us paying for over 5,600 excess hours on our bus contract. And

we pay extra for field trips & athletics - up to $211,000 extra is budgeted.


Large Bus Issue Summary

1 large bus = $53,579 per year

Unused buses x 3: $160,737 per yearInefficient buses x 3: $160,737 per yearBeach buses: $??

Min. Wasted Funds: $331,458 per year

And athletics & field trips are budgeted at (another $211,000).


Let’s summarize the Large Bus Contract Issues before we move on.

One large bus costs $53,579/year.

We are paying for 11. We have three that don’t have routes attached. We have

another three that are inefficiently routed.

We pay for three times the time we actually use on these buses but are paying

additionally for athletics and field trips.

With some relatively simple rerouting, there are tremendous savings to be

found here while providing a higher level of service.


Small Bus “Contract”


● Renewal invoice, not a contract

● 2nd FOIL request for the actual contract filed. Legally obligated to provide the document.

So let’s take a look at the small bus contract that actually represents the lion’s

share of the transportation budget at $1,742,609. Please note this also is not a

contract but rather a renewal invoice. Although legally obliged to do so, Dr.

Daly has not provided to date the full contract despite 2 FOIL requests.


Small Bus Details

● Small bus contract services 130 students○ Special Ed: 40 students○ Non-public: 90 students

● Contract: $1,742,609/year ○ 8 matrons @ $28,750 = $230,005○ 27.75 x 4 hour buses = $1,453,824 ○ 1 wheelchair-accessible bus = $58,779

● Average cost/small bus = $52,390 (without matron)


This $1,742,609 is spent to service 130 students. 40 special education and 90

non-public/private school students.

According to the renewal documents, that number is broken down as follows:

$28,750 per matron who rides along ($230,005)

$1,453,824 for 27.75 x 4 hour buses

+ $58,779 for a wheelchair accessible bus.

That puts a small bus cost at $52,390.


# of Small Buses Contracted


We only pay for the small buses that we use. We currently use 19.

We only pay for the buses we actually use which is currently 19. It is not clear from the documentation if that applies to the matrons & wheelchair bus as well or if we pay for them whether we use them or not.


Small Bus Routes


Estimation of the small bus routes based on data provided.

So as with the large, I FOIL-ed the routes for the small buses. I did my best to plot them out to see what system was being used. This was the best estimation.


Fasten Your Seatbelt

Please note that each one of the following slides represents

$52,390-$81,140*at a minimum.

*$81,140 if a matron rides aboard.


I’m going to now show you those routes. Remember each of the following slides represents at a minimum $52,390 or up to $81,140 if a matron rides along. I will share a few observations along they way. Please note these are redacted to protect the privacy of the students served.


Small Bus Routes: Route 4/19


$52,390/year

The first three slides show three separates buses all going within 1.5 miles

radius of each other in West Islip. The fourth shows a bus passes them to go

to St. Patrick’s in Bay Shore.




$52,390/year

The first three slides show three separates buses all going within 1.5 miles radius of each other in West Islip. The fourth shows a bus passes them to go to St. Patrick’s in Bay Shore.




Notes: Routes N also goes from Babylon to West Islip. Routes A and D originate at Beach drop off in West Islip.

$52,390/year





Notes: Routes D also goes from Beach to West Islip. Routes G and N originate in Babylon & drop off in West Islip. Route C goes from Bellmore to Babylon passing Massapequa Park along the way.

$52,390/year





$52,390/year

The next three routes are similarly sent to Dix Hills with two buses going to the same exact school & a third to a school located less than four miles away.




$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year

Is Republic considered AM/Mid-Day/PM BOCES?

Remember Dr. Daly said that two large buses service the BOCES students.

However, the next three slides show that it is in fact small buses that take

those children to school.

Route S, at $52,390/year, makes a single pick up stop in the afternoon for one,

possibly two, children. And is done for the day. $52,390.




IS BOCES Manor Plains AM/Mid-Day/PM BOCES? Notes: According to Dr. Daly, we pay for one full large bus to Route BOCES.

$52,390/year









$52,390/year









Notes: Why does this bus go East to then go West in the am? Can’t pm routing be combined with Ronkonkoma bus? Merrick pick up works with route E. Fold route J going to Ronkonkoma into M going to East Islip.

$52,390/year

And so it continues for the remaining 9 slides with multiple bus being paid to transport as few as one child to an outside school.




$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year





$52,390/year





Bus 1507 is actually a large bus.

$52,390/year



Small Bus Issue #1: Excessive capacity

● The data shows that with conservative rerouting, taking into account start times & locations, we could reduce the number of small buses to possibly 9.

● Eliminating 10 small buses @ $52,390 per year per bus.

$520,390 per year

● Possibly much more, if matrons can also be consolidated.


I had been informed by the transportation department that routing the small

busses was a very complicated. And I will admit, it was a bit daunting at first.

But with a little effort and the existing data, I found that with rerouting, up to ten

of these bus routes could possibly be eliminated while still getting the children

to their various schools on time. That is 10 buses @ $52,390 per year,

possibly more if matrons are also riding on these buses. $520,390 being

wasted on inefficiently routed buses.

If we worked together with other local districts to combine bus resources going

to the same locations, perhaps even more savings could be found.


Small bus issue #2: Excess Contracted Time


● Total # of combined route hours/day: 29● Total contracted per day (4 hrs x19 buses): 76

● Excess daily time contracted: 47 hours/day

x 185 days (per RFP) 8,695 excess hours/year

($52,390 / 185 days / 4 hours = $70.79/hour) $615,582/year

Athletics & field trips are extras, and students walk to BES from BHS for after school practices.

In addition, and similarly to the large buses, we contract each small bus for

four hours. Counting only the buses we pay for, 19 @ 4 hours per day, we

contract & pay for 76 hours per day. The 19 small bus routes use a total of 29

hours per day. That leaves us paying for 47 bus hours per day that are

unused. @$70.79/hour that’s an overpayment of $615,582 per year!

Remember, we pay for athletics & field trips separately and students are

expected to walk from BHS to BES for after school sports practices are buses

are not available.


Bid Process - District Policy


In recent days, I have had a chance to review the District’s Purchasing Policy and the bid process. This slide shows where the District’s Purchasing Policy requires public work contract involving an expenditure of $35,000 or more to be put out to bid.


Acme/Baumann Small Bus Contract Extended


In June 2008, the BOE extended the existing small bus contract with Acme Bus Co. for the following year.


Small Bus Contract Awarded to Bosch


The following Spring, at the May 2009 BOE meeting, a small bus contract was entered into with John Bosch.


RFP is MIA on Small Bus Contract

To my knowledge, no RFP documentation exists for entering into a small bus contract (currently valued at $1.7 million dollars).


Currently valued at $1,742,649 million dollars, this contract was never put out

to bid.


RFP Large Bus Contract

● Large bus contract last bid out in 2008

● Bid request was for 10 x 6 hour buses.


The Large bus contract was last bid out in 2008. For some reason, despite 11 x four hours providing excessive capacity, this RFP called for 10x 6 hour buses.


RFP Proposals


● 3 bid proposals received

● Bosch, Baumann & Towne

● Towne bid lacked supporting documentation to be considered a qualifying bid.

8 bid requests were sent out, three bids were returned. Baumann, Bosch & Towne bus companies responded. Towne’s proposal had no supporting documentation or even required initialing so therefore cannot be considered a contending bid.


RFP Proposals


Baumann$59,499 x 10 = $594,990

John Bosch$63,774 x 10

= $637,740

Of the two remaining bids, Baumann was by far the lower bid coming in over at $40,000 less than Bosch.


Proposals Rejected


At the May 12, 2008 BOE these two bids were summarily rejected in

accordance with Section 103 of the General Municipal Law. No further reasons

were given in the minutes.


N.Y. GMU. LAW § 103 : NY Code - Section 103: Advertising for bids; letting of contracts; criminal conspiracies


Section 103 of the General Municipal Law, does allow for bids to be rejected

and put out to bid again.

But this contract was never put out to bid again, neither at that time nor at any

time since.


Section 103: Reforming a contract is strictly prohibited


Further, Section 103: On Advertising for bids; letting of contracts; and criminal conspiracies, clearly provides for bid mistakes. I’ve highlighted the section which reads: Any amendment to or reformation of a bid or a contract to rectify such an error or mistake therein is strictly prohibited. You can reject all bids but you cannot amend an existing bid or contract to correct for a mistake.


Large Bus Contract Extended with Bosch


But in May 2009, while the Bosch bid was by far not the lowest, their large bus contract was extended. This does not seem to honor the intent of Section 103.


Who’s looking under the hood?

We are paying for:

● 3 large buses with no routing data $160,737

● 3 unnecessary bus $160,737

● Inefficient small bus routing $520,390 (more with matrons)

● Extra for athletics & field trips $211,000

$1,052,864/year x how many years??


Instead we are paying for:

● 3 large buses with no routing data $160,737

● Inefficient large bus routing $160,737

● Inefficient small bus routing $520,390 (more with

matrons)

● Extra for athletics & field trips $211,000

$1,052,864/year x how many years??


Budget 2015-2016


2015-2016 Proposed Transportation Budget increase: +$34,000

$2,318,972

And on top of that Administration is proposing a $34,000 increase in the transportation budget for next year without a single concrete suggestion as to how we can make it more efficient. I have proposed some ideas, such as working with nearby school districts to cut transportation costs to out of district schools. But I was told by administration that it was too much work to manage. And for many years, we have asked individually for the buses to better serve the geography of our community. Most recently, we were told by administration that it needs a directive to do so. A directive? To do the job right?


Who’s Looking Out for Us?

● Severely bloated

● Little regard for the competitive bidding process.

● Full of opportunities to save taxpayer dollars

● Provide much higher level of service to the district’s residents.


I would like to conclude by saying that our district’s transportation system

presents itself as bloated and with little regard for the legally mandated

competitive bidding process. It is full of opportunities to save taxpayer dollars

and provide better service to the district’s residents. And remember, it

represents less than 5% of our total school budget.

This is not the level of service that Babylon residents have come to expect, nor

are we willing to accept it any longer.

For our part, the residents have started a petition to amend policy. We

welcome the introduction of a Transportation Committee where our voices can

be heard. For the remainder, we look to you Board of Education our elected

representatives.


BOE: Answers & Accountability

We have an opportunity to make this right. Right now.

● Demand accountability from Administration

● Conduct a full performance audit of bussing dating back to 2001

● Recover funds paid for services not rendered

● Bid out all bus contracts as soon as possible.

● Make transportation work for the residents of Babylon Village.


We have an opportunity to make this right. Right now.

Demand accountability

● Conduct a full performance audit of transportation dating back to 2001 (so we can finally know how this situation has come to be.

● Recover funds paid for services not rendered● Bid out all bus contracts as soon as possible.● Solutions for making transportation work for the people who live in the

Village of Babylon.

We ask this as a community looking to move forward. Thank you.


Documents

Transportation Babylon UFSD - Home - Babylon K-6 PTAbabylon.my-pta.org/.../TransportationPresentation03... · 2014-2015 Transportation Budget Page 5 Prepared by Robyn Silvestri, [email protected],