Fleet and Maintenance
The Maintenance Division is responsible for (1) servicing all District
vehicles: 480 active school buses with an additional 7 buses in the maintenance
cannibalization points (MCPs) and 12 additional slated for auction, 328 other
utility fleet vehicles and trailers, and 62 other pieces of equipment, (2) the
procurement, receipt, store and issue of all District fuels, (3) verifying and
determining all new vehicle specifications for procurement, (4) for maintenance,
supply and service contracts (+/- 20), and
(5) an operational budget of $5 m (44 SFG accounts)
We operate from two maintenance sites: Hilltop Maintenance Site (2800 W. 7th Ave) and Northeast Maintenance Site (4850 Brighton Blvd). We operate two shifts of technicians at each maintenance site; this provides coverage from 5:00 am – 10:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Also, we provide maintenance and fuel support to a 3rd Satellite Terminal consisting of 65 buses from our two base sites.
We have a personnel authorization of 71 positions consisting of 69 FTEs, and two (2) hourly DPS retirees (maintenance technician).
Our career field of maintenance technicians consists of seven levels. From bottom to top, they are Vehicle Service Technician I, Vehicle Service Technician II, Maintenance Technician, Maintenance Fleet Analyst I/II, Maintenance Supervisor, Assistant Fleet Manager and finally, Fleet Manager. While we highly encourage all our Maintenance Technicians to achieve ASE certification and eventually certify as a Master School Bus Technician, ASE School Bus certification remains a requirement for advancement on the salary schedule as the Technician progresses within the career field. Ultimately our objective is to have 100% of our technicians ASE Master School Bus qualified. We also encourage ASE certification in the other related maintenance areas (Automotive, Heavy/Medium Truck). Similarly, supply personnel are also encouraged to be ASE certified.
Sixty percent (60%) of our eligible current workforce (of those encouraged to be certified) are ASE School Bus certified, of which nine (10) are Master School Bus Technicians. We also have one(1) Master Automotive Technician. Furthermore, 16% of the current workforce is ASE certified in Automotive and another 8% in Heavy/Medium Truck. There are also numerous two-four year technical and educational degrees; twenty three within the current workforce.
Today, we average a total of 408 buses running daily routes during a regular school season from three different base sites. The average age of the fleet running the routes in 5.8 years. The average age of our spare fleet is 6.7 years. On our Utility Fleet side (other district service vehicles), the average age of the fleet is 6.8 years.
As part of our financial responsibility, our Accounting Technician works closely with our subordinate maintenance shops, vendors, and the Accounts Payable Section in the Administration Building of the District. In doing so, we average 7,202 purchase orders and/or requisitions. The Accounting Technician also serves as a contract office representative for 55 district service contracts and 17 price agreements.
In addition to administrative/finance tracking duties, our secretary is responsible for the issuance and maintenance of 1,467 district fuel accounts (vehicles, equipment & schools) of which 981 are for vehicles. Individual DPS fuel cards are issued by the secretary.
Our School buses undergo an annual, in-depth inspection as well as a PM1 service every 3,500 miles and a PM2 service every 9,500 miles. As the age of the bus increases, it requires more and more effort to maintain which directly relates to cost. Also, parts become more difficult to acquire.
We drove a total of 5.0+ million city miles this past year while the rest of the District vehicles drove 1.5 million miles. In all, a total of 998,484 gallons of fuel were purchased to keep the District fleet on the road.
We also conduct a monthly 10% physical inventory of our parts room and a 100% annual physical inventory in June. Our recent inventory results resulted in an almost near perfect inventory for the second consecutive year.
Each year, every vehicle in the District fleet has 7 average work orders created (over 6,100 work orders).
