After 35 years of transporting North Bend students to and from school, the contract between North Bend Busing Company and the North Bend School District has not been renewed.

Instead, Mid-Columbia, a busing company that serves Lincoln City and districts in the Columbia River Gorge, will replace the local company in July. The school district officially approved a five-year contract with Mid-Columbia at a board meeting on Monday, April 10, despite objections from officials with North Bend Busing.

According to North Bend Interim Superintendent Chuck Bugge, after the contract with North Bend Busing came due this year, the district opened the busing services for bids to busing companies throughout the state. North Bend Busing, Laidlaw, which provides the busing for Coos Bay schools; and Mid-Columbia were the three companies that submitted the required information and proposed bids to the district.

Mid-Columbia was selected after a lengthy review by a panel of district employees, who independently rated the bids based on the price for home-to-school transportation, the quality of service and performance record of the company, a company's training and safety program, preventative maintainence records and stardards, experience in management and the ability to meet the performance goals of the district. Mid-Columbia received the highest rating by the entire panel.

“It was a pretty fair process. It was not slated for or against any one company,” Bugge said.

In the end, when the district totaled the bids from the companies, Mid-Columbia's offer was about $121,000 less than North Bend Busing's offer, although each offered different prices for different portions of the bid.

“There were multiple parts of the bid. But if you total all the parts of the bid you have the total figures,” Bugge said. “Mid-Columbia was the lowest overall bid. That's the bottom line.”

The district also was impressed by Mid-Columbia's reputation in the districts it serves, the company's efficiency and standards of safety, he added.

Dann Barnes, area manager for North Bend Busing, was frustrated by the district's selection of Mid-Columbia, but also by the unexpected nature of the bid process.

“We are a little upset. We made an agreement to discuss another year contract with them, and that's why we bought some new buses. But that didn't end up happening,” Barnes said. “I don't know what the interim superintendent was thinking.”

North Bend Busing recently purchased $450,000 of buses and equipment.

On Monday night, Dennis McGurk, the finance director for Student Transportation of America, the parent company of North Bend Busing, expressed concerns that the district did not take into account North Bend Busing's history and years of service to the community.

The school board heard McGurk's concerns without comment.

Ripple effect

Changing the busing company for North Bend schools affects more than just the district's bottom line but will also impact the jobs of drivers working for North Bend Busing, and the students who are accustomed to riding with them. Although Mid-Columbia CEO Tony Barnhart assured the board the company would try to employ as many displaced drivers in the area as possible, North Bend Busing's current drivers will have to go through an application process.

The process concerns drivers, as do the unknown prospects of the new company's benefit package or wages.

But Ephraim Morris, a bus driver since 1949, said he isn't personally concerned about the change in contracts.

“We're so short of drivers as it is,” he said. “Things can't get much worse. People are always worried when things change. But I wish the new company luck in finding more drivers around here.”

Morris said he and the other drivers don't drive the buses for the wages or the hours, but for the kids.

While the School Board expressed concerns that some drivers may walk out on the remaining contract between the district and North Bend Busing, Barnes said that was unlikely.

“I hold no ill will to the district, and none of my drivers do either, but we wish they would have talked to us more,” he said. “My drivers are professionals and they're here for the kids. When Mid-Columbia comes in I hope they make an offer to the drivers that they can't refuse, so that the same drivers can stay with the kids.”

According to Barnhart, the company was able to retain as much as 50 percent of the drivers from previous companies when moving into other districts, and hopes to do at least that well in North Bend.