REGION BUS FLEETSSystem / Buses / Students transportedBradley / 45 / 8,000Catoosa / 126 / 8,500Cleveland / 27 / 2,500Marion / 24 / 2,800Hamilton / 242 / 27,000Walker / 87 / 6,000Whitfield / 158 / 9,500Source: Tennessee and Georgia school officials
As the cost of gas and diesel keeps climbing, public school officials in the region say they’ve learned a lesson or two from past years’ wildly fluctuating fuel prices.
Transportation supervisors say systems have had to become market-savvy bargain hunters as they watch prices swing and strike when fuel costs dip.
Kevin Richardson, school transportation director in Walker County, Ga., said he “looks for changes in market conditions, and we order when the price is right.”
Walker paid $2.62 a gallon “a couple of days ago,” he said, and for now the fuel budget is in “good shape.” The county, which goes through about 1,200 gallons a day, buys fuel in bulk to store in three 10,000-gallon storage tanks, he said.