LAKE FENTON —First it was Linden. Now, the school district in Lake Fenton has become the second in Genesee County to privatize its bus transportation.
Under a five-year lease with Laidlaw Transit, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, the district expects to save $467,125. Laidlaw is providing the district with eleven new 78-passenger AmTran Rear Engine buses, permitting the district to avoid having to borrow money from its general fund to purchase new buses itself.
Superintendent Gerald Laskey told the Tri-County Times, "They (Laidlaw) are professionals. We aren’t professionals in transportation. There is no downside to this."
As was the case in Linden, which privatized its busing over a year ago, Lake Fenton will keep its thirteen bus drivers, two mechanics and one dispatcher as district employees. The workers will eventually become Laidlaw employees within three years.
The largest school district in the county, Flint, doesn’t provide its own bus service either, but it didn’t hire a private firm. Beginning in 1992, the Flint School District contracted with the Mass Transportation Authority to provide busing, saving the district about $1 million per year.
