Today’s case study is one in a series of papers prepared by Kevin Smith Transportation Group. This weekly series will focus on real-world issues our clients bring to us, how our Project Teams work with those same clients to understand their opportunities and how together we develop and implement a transportation solution.
Are you responsible for chartering vehicles for your school or university? Call Kevin Smith Transportation Group today at 610-222-6225 and let one of our School Coordinators arrange all of your charter services. With all of our chauffeurs CDL licensed, FBI screened and carrying both the P and S endorsement, KSTG can handle everything from athletic team transfers to field trips and camps.
Introduction
A local charter school approached us regarding an existing transportation challenge. They were moving some of their sports teams but were forced to move smaller teams less than 15 students in buses built for 40 or 50 passengers.
In some cases, they drove their own teams in 12 passenger shuttles and had to leave team members behind where they had 14 or 15 players. Plus, they were forced to have coaches drive these smaller shuttles which weren’t ideal.
We sat down with them and proposed a customized solution. 3 unique vehicle sizes to match all of their sports teams, dedicated to them seasonal based on their schedules. This would reduce their costs, ensure their teams traveled in the correct vehicle size and also delivered a superior service by leveraging a luxury transportation company.
Background
This school had 14 sports teams over the 3 seasons where they needed to build a transportation solution. They wanted to place each team in the appropriately sized vehicle. However, they didn’t want to jeopardize safety.
We had ongoing partnerships with other academic institutions so we understood the importance of service and safety. We also already utilized the vehicle types they needed so onboarding additional fleet vehicles would not be an issue.
Are you responsible for chartering vehicles for your school or university? Call Kevin Smith Transportation Group today at 610-222-6225 and let one of our School Coordinators arrange all of your charter services. With all of our chauffeurs CDL licensed, FBI screened and carrying both the P and S endorsement, KSTG can handle everything from athletic team transfers to field trips and camps.
Alternatives
Their alternatives were limited. Continue to utilize the third party bus company, who would never be able to provide customization to the vehicles. They could also purchase their own vehicles but the capital expenditure was significantly more than they wanted to pursue.
Neither option was something they saw as a long-term option but without an alternative solution, this is what they would be stuck with.
Proposed Solution
So our solution was multi-faceted. We would onboard 3 additional vehicles specifically for their 14 teams. As the majority of our drivers already were CDL licensed with the P and S endorsement, supporting the additional runs would not be an issue.
Our Fleet Manager worked closely with their Athletic Director to understand schedules and needs. We made sure as well that we could handle higher volumes due to cancellations where schedules would be squeezed.
Ultimately, we were able to onboard every team’s schedule and in addition, could handle one-off requests as they came up with no additional vehicles needed.
Recommendations
The success of this solution was largely tied to the partnership on day one. The client clearly outlined their challenges and was open about what they wanted to accomplish.
By understanding where they were and more importantly, where they wanted to get to, it enabled us to build out a solution that was sustainable for both the school and our company.
Even better for our company, it was a solution we could take to other schools in our service area to show them how this outsourced solution could work for them. The ROI on this program continues to pay off for us.
Are you responsible for chartering vehicles for your school or university? Call Kevin Smith Transportation Group today at 610-222-6225 and let one of our School Coordinators arrange all of your charter services. With all of our chauffeurs CDL licensed, FBI screened and carrying both the P and S endorsement, KSTG can handle everything from athletic team transfers to field trips and camps.
Thank you for reading today’s Case Study on Student Charters. Hopefully, you found this information insightful and you will be able to apply some of these solutions to your specific transportation challenges. For more case studies on the ground transportation industry, visit our blog page.