Taken for a Ride: Hawaii Companies Say Rising Costs = Rising Prices

Katherine Poythress/Civil Beat

Editor's note: This article is part of a series on Hawaii's runaway school bus costs. Read other articles in the series.

Hawaii school bus companies say rising health-care and fuel costs are only two of many reasons they are now charging so much more to drive kids to and from school.

School bus contract prices with the Department of Education have doubled since 2005, taking a toll on parents' pocketbooks and the school district's budget. Civil Beat has been examining what's behind the soaring costs in its series, Taken for a Ride. Records over the past 11 years show that school bus costs started rising sharply in 2006, and contractors abruptly stopped bidding against each other two years later, in 2008.

With no competing companies to choose from, the school district began paying whatever the contractors asked. The cost of some routes tripled overnight, particularly when a contract would come up for bid again and only one company would submit a proposal. For instance, one route on the Big Island went from $35,000 in 2003 to $42,000 in 2008 and then to $105,000 in 2009.

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