School bus company wheels into new year

Mesa Transportation bus driver Mary O. Vigil performs safety checks her school bus before taking Grants-Cibola County School District students home from school. Falling fuel costs are bringing a little reprieve to the school bus contractor. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — School buses in the Grants-Cibola County School District travel a total of nearly half a million miles every school year.

Mesa Transportation Inc. is a family-owned business providing necessary transportation for all local school district events and daily trips picking up and dropping off students at homes and school since 1979.

The current owners took over the company from their parents in 1994, said Anna Marie Lopez, general manager and co-owner.

Partners, all of whom work at Mesa, are Lopez's husband, Xavier, Jack and Sharon Moleres and Ron and Kathryn Sanchez.

Anna Marie Lopez said her father and uncle, Jack J. Moleres, Robert P. Moleres and their brother Jean Moleres had 41 buses when they transferred the business to the current partners.

"We now have 32 buses, which are 65 passenger buses and three special needs buses with ramps and wheelchairs that can transport 48 passengers," Lopez said.

Apart form the normal fleet, there are four special activity buses and several backup buses to be used in an emergency in the case of one breaking down, she said.

Driver requirements
In addition to the sizable number of buses required to have a certified school bus driver every day, there are an additional six substitutes, mechanics and office personnel, bringing the number of employees to 47.

Every bus driver must pass four separate tests at the state's department of motor vehicles: general knowledge, air brakes, passenger and school bus, before they are eligible to be hired by Mesa.

In addition to those tests, there is an extensive FBI background test, a driver's license check and each driver must provide a birth certificate, Social Security number and a marriage license if their name is different than that on the birth certificate, Lopez said.

"When we hire a driver, we train them for 36 hours before they are allowed to drive," Lopez said.

The new driver must observe a certified driver, learn Mesa's bus inspection techniques and be tested with a school bus driver licensed examiner.

Safety checks
"Each school bus must be inspected thoroughly before the driver takes it out each and every time," Lopez said. Drivers are taught to inspect under the hood and carriage, check the brakes, horn and all the lights and assure the school bus is roadworthy and will not cause any unsafe conditions for students.

Every school bus is inspected twice a year by the state, once each semester, fall and spring, Lopez said.

There was only once accident last year and no injuries were sustained, she said.

An 18-wheeler bumped a school bus as it drove on an off ramp, she said.

"We have an excellent record for safety," she said. "And, no Mesa school bus has ever been taken out of service by the state inspectors."

Plenty of fuel
Mesa buys two types of diesel fuel for its fleet, clear diesel and diesel No. 2.

The No. 2 diesel is used during winter to keep the bus from "gelling up," she said.

The most recent bulk purchase of 8,000 gallons cost Mesa $3.12 a gallon.

"There is not a big break for us with price," she said.

"We pay more than $24,000 a month for fuel."

Last year, Mesa purchased two new special needs buses at a cost of about $60,000 each.

"School buses are on a 12-year cycle," she said. "When they reach 12 years they are cycled out of service. They have more than 200,000 miles on them by that time."

One driver, Jennie Garcia, has driven more than 32 years with Mesa, Lopez said, and 10 more have at least 20 years service.

Routes are usually no more than 90 minutes, but some are what Lopez terms "double runs."

"The driver picks up junior high and high school students and drops them off, then picks up elementary students and drops them off," she said.

"We have about eight or nine of those routes," she said.

Mesa travels from the Bluewater Lake area on the west, to Cubero and Seboyeta on the east. It covers Mt. Taylor on the north, goes to San Mateo and to El Morro on the south.

With a $1.1 million budget from the school district, Lopez said she thinks her company saves money for the district and her drivers are special people.

"It takes something special to be a school bus driver," she said.

"They are the first person from the school the students come in contact with every day."

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail: tiffin.independent@yahoo.com.