SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Public School board is expected to address several items during their meeting Wednesday night, one of them being payment options for transportation services.
SPS officials say they are meeting on a regular basis with Zum Services to get everything set for their launch. The Zum buses will be in addition to the current buses designated for the school district. With the new buses up to 10,000 students can receive bus passes.
The current recommendation is to approve an increase of $360,000 to complete payments for the 2022-23 fiscal year. These funds will be coming out of what's already been designated for transportation. Once they have that settled, the goal is to then get the approval of a contract for Zum services established for the next fiscal year.
In March, the board decided to part ways with Durham Bus Services at the end of the 2023 school year, They then approved a five-year contract with Zum.
Durham provided a lower annual bid estimate of $13.8M compared to Zum's $14.3M but Zum scored higher overall with references and during panel interviews. The SPS board meeting agenda states “Zum showed more efficient and personalized transportation modes to help maintain better overall student comfort and behavior.”
Board members were impressed with the technology the company brings with it. A single app will let parents know when the bus is coming, when their child arrives at school and when they're heading home.
"A parent always wants to know where their kid is and we recognize that and so I know that was something that was a priority for us going into this process and something that we're really excited about," SPS Superintendent Adam Swinyard said. "That there will be technology in place to really create that type of linkage for families to know where their students are at any given time when they are riding our transportation."
The district's transportation panel also recommended Zum because of the company's sustainability commitment. Zum says its fleet is 100% carbon neutral and they plan to add more electric vehicles in the future.
Zum already has contracts with districts in Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. Their buses will take Spokane students to school beginning in August. The estimated cost of the five year contract, which runs from Aug. 2023 to July 2028 is $71,770,590.
Wednesday’s meeting is set for 6:30 p.m.
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