Mt. Pleasant Area's new busing contract comes with green advantages

Mt. Pleasant Area is the latest Westmoreland County school district to “go green” with its transportation program.

Effective July 1, the district will have a new school bus provider — the Mt. Pleasant-based DMJ Transportation — and access to a fleet that runs on liquid propane.

DMJ, which already handles the district’s special education and small sports team busing, expects to run 17 large buses and 13 minibuses starting Aug. 26, General Manager Jay Kilpatrick said.

“They liked the idea of going green, as well as the alternative fuel tax credit,” Kilpatrick said.

The district, which had a longstanding contract with the First Student charter bus service, put out a request for bus proposals last year and awarded the contract to DMJ in November. Although some members of the public spoke in favor of retaining First Student, the nine-member board voted unanimously for the change, according to the meeting minutes.

The five-year contract is valued at $6 million, Kilpatrick said.

Superintendent Tim Gabauer said the propane-fueled buses, while seen as a benefit, were not a determining factor in the board’s decision. The district’s RFP said proposals involving alternative fuels would be considered.

“(DMJ) provided a guaranteed, fixed rate for regular transportation that yielded a $155,000 savings in the first year,” Gabauer said. “They also provided a thorough breakdown of bus routes and length of runs and all relevant information for the upcoming year, including efficient transportation runs for the district’s elementary realignment.”

In addition to a new fleet of propane-fueled buses, DMJ included in its bid four video cameras per bus and a parent app that can be used to locate a child’s bus during its runs, Gabauer said.

The decision to go with DMJ over First Student was part of a larger, ongoing evaluation of contracts and costs on the part of the school board, he said.

Gabauer credited First Student for a “great partnership … for many years.”

In May, Cincinnati-based First Student filed a notice with the state Department of Labor & Industry that it would close its Mt. Pleasant operations effective June 10 and lay off 62 employees – both part-time bus drivers and monitors.

At a pizza party on Tuesday, many of those employees were told they were welcomed at DMJ, Kilpatrick said.

“We extended an offer … to all those drivers. We encourage any former First Student employee to apply,” he said.

DMJ is looking to hire 30 to 35 drivers for Mt. Pleasant for the 2019-20 school year, he said.

The family-owned company first deployed a propane-fueled fleet for the Greensburg Salem School District in 2017. Such buses lessen students’ exposure to toxic fumes given off by traditional buses, run 50% quieter than diesel-power buses, have lower flammability than gasoline and have lower operating costs, according to the company website.

As with its 24-bus Greensburg Salem fleet, DMJ purchased its Mt. Pleasant buses with the help of an Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The $151,555 grant will go toward the $1.3 million purchase price for the Mt. Pleasant buses, Kilpatrick said.

The vehicles from the Blue Bird Corp. are expected to start arriving Monday, he said.