New Busing Contract Slated to Save District $1 Million

A new busing contract with a new company will save the approximately $1 million over the next five years.

At Monday's meeting, the school board voted to accept a contract with Brandywine Transportation beginning July 1 for the 2012-2013 school year. Brandywine, based out of Berks County, currently transports students in the Northern Lehigh School District and two Berks districts.

The district's current transportation provider, First Student, has a contract through June 30. According to recent reports, district officials said they were unhappy with turnaround time on First Student bus repairs and the age of the buses. Last year, First Student ran into that caused a two-hour delay for the three elementary schools and the Joseph P. Liberati Intermediate School.

Brandywine's fleet for Southern Lehigh will consist of 50 large school buses and five smaller buses. The contract with the district states that no bus can be more than 3 years old.