Barnstable School District Moves to Purchase Seven Buses

The Barnstable school committee moved to purchase seven new school buses from DATTCO, a New England bus vendor, during Tuesday night’s school committee meeting.

The purchase will include one “three-quarter” type C bus equipped with air brakes and six smaller type A diesel powered school buses. The buses will be used to transport special education students and will replace some of the fleet’s older special education school buses.

According to Barnstable transportation director Sandy Gifford, the quotes for the buses came in less than expected. The three-quarter type C bus will cost $18,037.88 annually for five years. Each smaller type A bus will cost $10,989.97 annually for five years.

The school committee also explored the possibility of in-house transportation. According to superintendent Patricia Grenier, bringing transportation in-house could potentially save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to Grenier, during the first three or four years of in-house transportation, the district could utilize Town maintenance bays while the school buses are still under warranty. This would buy time for the district to either add their own bay to the municipal department, or build their own building.

Transporting Barnstable students to and from school each day will require a fleet of school buses. One of the first things to consider is where to construct a parking lot large enough to hold the fleet.

Right now the area being considered as a potential parking lot is the athletic practice field behind the current maintenance and bus building. A study to determine the effect the parking lot may have on groundwater would first be needed before any construction could take place.

The study would cost between $20,000 and $25,000. The committee will vote on whether or not to move ahead with the study during the April 5 school committee meeting.