Transportation Efficiency Calculation
The school transportation efficiency plan sets a standard level of efficiency which all school districts are encouraged to achieve. That state standard is set at 120 percent of vehicle capacity. In other words, each district would have to use some of their vehicles for more than one route each day in order to achieve this standard.
A district’s efficiency rating (vehicle utilization) is calculated by dividing student ridership by vehicle capacity. The District Report of Transported Resident Students provides the data used for this calculation.
Vehicle capacity is calculated:
- Utilizing 90 percent of the total number of seats available for district use. Ten percent set aside of seats is allowed for in this calculation to accommodate non-mandated ridership or other local conditions, which may prevent 100 percent utilization.
- Vehicles used exclusively for the transportation of special education students with special transportation needs are not included in this calculation.
Student ridership includes:
- Eligible resident district regular public, nonpublic, and charter school students, and in-district special education students who do not have special transportation needs (i.e. students receiving mandated transportation pursuant to NJSA 18A:39-1);
- Students from other districts for whom the host district provides transportation services;
- Pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade students who reside less than remote from school;
- Students receiving non-mandated transportation because they would be required to walk along routes designated as hazardous by the board of education pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:39-1.5 if they were not transported; and
- Students in all grade levels whose parents or the municipality pay for non-mandated transportation (subscription busing).
Student ridership calculation does not include:
- Nonpublic and charter school students whose parents receive aid in lieu of transportation; and
- Special education students with special transportation needs and special education students without special needs who are transported outside the district riding on vehicles excluded from the vehicle capacity calculation.
