More and more school districts near Northwest Dallas/Ft. Worth are considering dropping pay-for-ride school buses and turning transportation services over to a third-party company. Keller ISD transitioned to third-party transportation services in the 2011/2012 school year. Keller ISD has 35 campuses serving more than 30,000 students. Enrollment in Keller ISD has more than doubled during the past 10 years and is expected to rise to more than 45,000 during the next decade, making it one of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas.
Northwest ISD is serviced by Durham Bus Services; however, Durham Bus Services placed a 2-mile radius limit on their school district, meaning that any student that lives less than 2 miles from their home campus are not eligible to receive bus services at all. The demand for student shuttle service is ever increasing in these areas with growth of double-income families and the increased traffic in the neighborhoods.
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Keller and Northwest Independent School Districts
In this evolving environment, Smiley Transportation has steadily increased its presence through dependable service and solid reputation. The average Smiley Transportation vehicle services four to five schools per route. On average a van can take 25-30 students, round trip, per day. Smiley Transportation currently services 11 elementary schools, 9 intermediate schools, 10 middle schools and 6 high schools in the Keller and Northwest ISD’s. Through Smiley Transportation’s pre-registration process from existing clients this spring, currently over 110 students pre-registered for the 16/17 school year.
In addition, Smiley Transportation has also been asked to serve the following school districts in the neighboring counties: Southlake/Carroll ISD, Grapevine ISD, Frisco ISD, Lewisville ISD, Eagle Mountain/Saginaw ISD, and Birdville ISD. Smiley is set to add 2 elementary schools, 1 intermediate school, 1 middle school and 2 private schools for 2016/2017 school year with their existing fleet.
The cities that Smiley Transportation presently serve in the Northwest Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area, including the cities of Keller, Roanoke, Haslet, Trophy Club and Justin, TX, index the nation on key metrics like household income and home value. The weighted average household income across these 5 cities is almost $125,000 – nearly 2X the national average household income. The average home value in these cities exceeds the national average by almost 1.75X1. The area is growing as well, seeing an overall population increase more than 15% in the last 5 years2. As previously noted enrollment in the Keller ISD has more than doubled during the past 10 years and is expected to rise to more than 45,000 during the next decade, making it one of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas.
1Piinpoint.com
2www.texastribune.org