Hays CISD approves purchase of ten more buses for fleet

HAYS COUNTY — The Hays CISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the purchase of additional buses last week.

Totaling $1,522,012, the 2023 Bond purchase from Longhorn Bus Sales includes 10 buses, with seven for regular routes and three for special education.

The timeframe for getting buses right now is approximately 300-365 days. In the 2022 bond, the district bought 51 buses; currently, the special education buses are slated to go into build in September and regular buses are slated for the end of October to November, according to Hays CISD Assistant Director of Transportation Cassandra Behr.

“Last time, when I came to you guys with the purchase, the buses were $133,000. They have gone up 18% in a year,” Behr said at the July 24 board meeting.

District staff recommended purchasing buses in this bond in two separate procurements with a second purchase in January 2024. Trustee Byron Severance questioned if it would be better to buy all of the buses now at this price.

“Part of the reason that we weren’t using all of the bond money to purchase right now is because of the replacement cycle. It kind of makes it difficult. Like this 51 that we are getting, that’s going to be a huge chunk in 15 years to do a replacement,” Behr responded. “We kind of wanted to even that back out a little bit after this purchase. But we were going to be trying to come in January to purchase that next set, since we are about a year [to] a year and a half from when we purchase to when we actually get the buses.”

Trustee Raul Vela Jr. asked if Hays CISD has ever found a fleet or number of buses that are built, manufactured and ready to be purchased.

Behr said that sometimes, their vendors order stock buses, but that they don't always have everything that the district feels is needed for safety precautions. With shortages that vendors have been experiencing, they aren’t able to keep stock and purchasing used buses “is a little risky,” she said.