Since 2008, ALC has been reducing costs and improving service levels for the district’s special needs transportation program
SANTA ANA, Calif., June 29, 2010 – Building upon a successful track record of helping school districts nationwide reduce the cost of their special needs transportation programs, American Logistics Company (ALC), a national student transportation management company, today announced that the Washington County Schools District in Utah has renewed its contract. ALC will continue to provide services for students with special transportation needs during the 2010-2011 school year.
“We are pleased to extend our partnership with Washington County Schools by providing the district with cost-effective, high-quality transportation services,” said Craig Puckett, president, American Logistics Company. “When it comes to schools, serving students with special transportation needs is our focus and our passion. We take great pride in our ability to reduce costs for the school district, while improving satisfaction levels among the students, parents and district personnel.”
In the State of Utah, school districts are only reimbursed for bus services, when the bus trip has more than five students. Prior to contracting with ALC, the Washington County School District was finding it very difficult to meet the state’s reimbursement requirements, when it came to transporting its growing population of students with special transportation needs. In many cases, due to the rural landscape that comprised much of the region, the district was transporting four students or less with special transportation needs, up to 50 miles each way.
Murrell Martin, Utah State Pupil Transportation Director, recently reported that in fiscal year 2010, the statewide reimbursement for non-bus transportation was 65.3%. Therefore, Utah schools districts can expect to recoup more than 65% of contracted services for those inefficient bus trips (i.e. less than 10 students on a regular education bus, and/or less than 5 students on a special education bus). Because Washington County School District had some inefficient routes due to their geography, they chose to contract with ALC, to curb the costs associated with its special needs transportation program by replacing its non-reimbursable bus routes, with vans and sedans.
“In addition to helping us reduce the cost of our special needs transportation program, we have also been quite impressed with ALC’s care in selecting and training their drivers; their use of innovative technologies such as BlackBerry devices to communicate with the driver; and, business practices that lower the carbon footprint for our district’s transportation program,” said Launi Schmutz, Director of Transportation, Washington County School District.
By leveraging both fully-compliant vans and sedans to transport students with special transportation needs, ALC is able to noticeably us reduce fuel consumption, when compared to the amount of gas used by traditional yellow busses, as well as diminish wear and tear that larger vehicles have on the environment.
“It is a pleasure working with American Logistics, our employees as well as students enjoy the transportation from ALC – we have a great partnership,” concluded Schmutz.
The ALC Transportation Model
ALC’s transportation model allows them to make and verify an exceptionally unique claim: reduced costs and improved transportation services.
ALC serves school districts across the United States with transportation solutions for students with special needs, including students covered under the McKinney-Vento Act. Through the use of their proprietary trip optimization technology (ParaMax®) and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), ALC is able to deliver on its promise of reduced costs and improved service. In most cases ALC can reduce the cost of the special needs transportation program by 20% to 30%.
ALC’s ParaMax technology reduces school transportation costs by analyzing data provided by the school district, to “right size the trip” and “right size the vehicle”:
- By running real-time route optimization algorithms to maximize route productivity and vehicle utilization, ALC “right sizes the trip.” More efficient routes translate into reduced costs for the school district, and a reduction in the amount of time special needs students spend in transit to and from school.
- By establishing the most efficient blend of buses and fully-compliant vans, ALC “right sizes the vehicle.” This means matching the right vehicle with the right trip, and more importantly it means no longer paying for unused capacity.
- Both of these steps contribute to an overall reduction in the carbon footprint of a school’s transportation program.
ALC’s ITS enables clients to achieve performance metrics that are significantly higher than industry standards. With on-time rates, across all customers, averaging 97%, and less than one customer complaint per 1,000 trips, ALC is setting a new standard in pupil transportation.
A reputation built on 50 years of transportation management and customer service, has given ALC the foundation to develop innovative management practices that have resulted in high quality transportation services for school districts. ALC partners with school districts across the United States to provide services for students with special needs, including the homeless (McKinney Vento) and isolated families – it is 100% of their passion and focus.
To learn more about ALC’s pupil transportation services, please contact Chris Thomas at (866) 999-3371 x225.
About American Logistics Company
American Logistics Company (ALC) is a national passenger transportation management company serving transit agencies, school districts and the health care industry. ALC leverages proprietary transportation management and optimization technology to manage dedicated and non-dedicated vehicles across the United States, providing high quality, innovative transportation services that raise the bar for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, driver safety and accountability.
