As school districts emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘fleet optimization’ promises to hold even more relevance during the new school year


Written by Eric Woolson


C 30 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2021


hristina Albin and Mike Bullman are half a country apart and a world away in terms of their fleet sizes, but their perspectives emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic are similar and largely optimistic. The months when buses were parked after classes were dismissed by COVID-19 in


March 2020 didn’t create some of the problems they expected. Both anticipate the year ahead is more likely to resemble a return to normal with a few changes than a jarring new normal. “We really didn’t have any buses sitting for a long period of time. They continued


on their routes, delivering meals to the families on each route unless they specif- ically asked us not to and only our older spare buses sat because we didn’t have sports trips or other events where we normally utilized them,” said Albin, transpor- tation supervisor with Minnesota’s Menahga Independent School District #821, which has roughly 1,000 students and a fleet that includes 23 full-size buses. “For this coming school year, we definitely feel totally optimistic.” She added with a laugh, “I’ve heard from drivers who like assigned seating and


hope it stays.”


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