Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. Perform a comprehensive examination of the current regional school choice transportation system to identify strengths and weaknesses, and areas of improvement, modification, or elimination. The examination should include: • a review of current transportation practices and policies; • an analysis of historical and current data from the CSDE and CREC, as the transportation administrator; • an analysis of current transportation costs and spending for transportation administration and busing services; • expansion forecasting for projected enrollment; • an examination of tiered bus routes, school schedules (to include bell time alignments), transportation zone size and scope, ridership numbers and trends, and programmatic requirements; • an analysis of traffic conditions and patterns, including the examination of traffic volume and congestion. Evaluate the impact of these factors on ride times and bus stop times to identify correlations and trends; • a comprehensive assessment of the student transportation system in the Greater Hartford region of Connecticut to gauge its capacity effectively. Specifically, investigate the availability of bus vendors and drivers; • an analysis of afterschool programming, current late bus capacity and usage, transportation costs for afterschool/weekend transportation services to support athletics and extracurricular programming, extracurricular expansion plans, and associated routing requirements; and • an assessment of current and historical transportation complaint logs, and student attrition from school choice programs. 2. Recommend improvements to the regional school choice transportation system that will support student enrollment in Voluntary Interdistrict Programs in the Sheff Region. Recommendations should be documented in a comprehensive, data-driven report and should: • identify industry best practices and relate such practices to adjustments to the transportation design; • seek to enhance transportation services, maximize operational efficiencies, and optimize cost savings, while supporting participation in Voluntary Interdistrict Programs as informed by the findings from the first transportation study; • address family decision-making in choosing to apply to and attend a Voluntary Interdistrict Program; • address student attrition from unreliable and/or challenging transportation services; • include strategies to shorten ride times for all students and provide opportunities for neighborhood stops as a regular option for families within the transportation zone, • propose modifications to the size and orientation of the transportation zone; • detail options to support late buses and transportation services for student participation in afterschool programming and extracurricular activities; and • identify strategic linking of geographic areas with specific voluntary interdistrict schools as a means of increasing transportation efficiencies. Alternatives to school bus transportation may be sought and recommended as appropriate. 3. Develop a written plan based on the comprehensive evaluation of the current transportation system and recommended strategies for improvements to the regional school choice transportation system. The proposed plan must include enhanced transportation services based on best practices, resources needed, and maximizing operational efficiencies, optimized cost savings, and an analysis of the potential impact on school schedules. 4. The work plan developed in response to this RFP must address the scope of services in this section and incorporate the tasks listed in the table below, including a description of how each task will be delivered. Each task should consider the unique characteristics of the Voluntary Interdistrict Program options available to students in the Greater Hartford Region.
