Ready to roll out

Published 7:19 am Monday, September 1, 2008

Austin Transportation Service will have more than 20 buses on the roads and streets of the Austin Independent School District Tuesday.

When classes resume for the 2008-09 school year, the buses roll.

Transportation is an important and a big business for school districts everywhere.

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“We just signed a new two-year contract,” Owner Becky Crumb said. “We’re ready for a new school year.”

The only concern are the obstacles posed by the closure of a three-block stretch of East Oakland Avenue, Fourth Street to First Street Northeast because of the removal of two bridges.

“We’re going to have to make some detours for awhile due to the closings,” Crumb said. “It could cause some headaches for the drivers.”

The advent of a new school year is always exciting at Austin Transportation Service, where the bright yellow buses are a familiar sight, criss-crossing the city and rolling down country roads in the rural areas.

Transportation has been in Crumb’s family for three decades. Becky’s father, Richard List, started it, and Becky and her late husband, Mark, took over the business 15 years ago.

There are 49 buses in the Austin Transportation Service fleet. Between 20 and 30 could be in service on any single school day.

There are between 50 and 60 drivers — part-time and substitute — employed in the Austin Transportation Service.

The size of the vehicle ranges from 10 passengers to 83.

The first bus leaves the garage on a rural route at roughly 6:30 a.m. on a school day. Most of the vehicles return by 4:10 p.m.

The problems caused by the closure of three blocks of East Oakland Avenue cannot be understated, Crumb said. “That’s the main route for buses going to and from Austin High School.”

But that may be part of the challenge that Crumb relishes so much in her job supervising the work of transporting some of the estimated 4,200 students returning to classes this week.

“There’s never a dull moment,” she said.

Austin Transportation Service has a safety director, Rick Pike, to oversee its crew of drivers and their vehicles.

Crumb described the drivers as a crew of “veteran skilled drivers.”

The school district has its own Student Transportation Safety Procedures policy for all students to follow.

For more information, consult the 2008-09 school year calendar that contains information about transportation and other important facets of the school year.

Also, parents may call the school district for assistance.