Norwalk’s getting new school buses – and spending less

NORWALK, Conn. – It’s a “pretty big win” for Norwalk Public Schools, Chief Financial Officer Rich Rudl said Tuesday in explaining new school bus contracts that will begin July 1.

“It’s really a contract that is very, very good for the school system,” Rudl said. “Not only does it save $1 million over five years it upgrades the fleet of buses that we have and it really gives us a little more flexibility than we had in the past.”
The contract, approved unanimously, awards First Student a five-year contract for full-sized buses and splits the smaller bus work between three companies – First Student, ECS LLC and Relia Transportation. The deal also commits Norwalk to rent a Wilson Avenue bus depot from Seligson Properties for 15 years.

There will be 42 new school buses on Norwalk streets next fall under the contract with First Student, each with GPS and cameras. An additional 10 buses will not have traveled more than 100,000 miles, while the current contract allows buses to go 125,000 miles, Rudl said.

Using three vendors for the smaller buses netted a better price and will allow the city to adapt better should enrollment go up, Rudl said.

Renting long term from Seligson means a better deal because, if the bus company rented the lot itself, it would pay more money for a shorter lease, and pass that along to the city, Rudl said. Norwalk is second only to New Canaan and Ridgefield statewide in the rate it has been paying for buses, and the reason has been the lack of a city-owned bus depot, Rudl said in a memo to the Board. The city saves $1,137,772 over the life of the five-year contract, he said.

The bus contract provides for smaller increases than in the past, he said. While Norwalk has been paying a 4.5 percent increase every year, the new contract calls for 1 percent in the first year, followed by 2.5 percent, 2.5 percent, 2.75 percent and 2.75 percent, he said.

BoE Chairman Mike Lyons said staff had done a “terrific job.”

“I am very pleased that we have people who are not kicking off their shoes and sitting back in their office and drawing their paycheck,” Lyons said. “I mean you guys are … finding out really creative ways of saving us money that both helps the taxpayers and also gives us more funding for students.”

BoE members Migdalia Rivas and Shirley Mosby were absent from the meeting.