Fuel costs at Superior Central have increased about 10 percent
EBEN -- Gas prices are putting a crunch on many consumer's wallets, and they're also impacting vehicle fleets that can't trim any miles from their daily drive.
Hundreds of students rely on school buses to get an education each day.
Sharon Vierk is the driver of one of the longest bus routes for Superior Central Schools--it's a 50-mile trip, and the first passenger gets picked up at about 6:30 a.m. They'll arrive at school at 7:45 a.m.
The Superior Central school district covers 225 square miles, and about 50 percent of students take the bus to school.
"It's a big triangle, there's no shortcuts," says Vierk.
Bus #08 is the newest of the nine-vehicle fleet with the best gas mileage at eight or nine miles per gallon. The older buses get as little as five miles to the gallon.
The drivers fill up at the school's gas tank at least a couple times a week. The tanks are quite a bit bigger than the vehicles you have at home--they hold 60 gallons of gas--and ever-increasing prices are causing problems for the school district's budget.
Superintendent Pamela Morris says if prices stay this high, their fuel costs will increase 7 to 10 percent. That money will come out of the school's already strained general fund.
"With all the additional cuts coming from the state, just the increase in gas is going to be difficult for us to handle," said Morris.
She can't anticipate what may have to be cut from the budget next year as a result and doesn't think much can be done to shorten current routes.
"We looked at the possibility of combining routes," she said. "But it's a long day for these students, to get on the bus at 6:30 a.m., 6:45 a.m morning and not get home till 5 p.m."
One new bus will be purchased to increase the fleet's gas efficiency, and the district continues to look at other alternatives.
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