School Transport Vans Bill In Senate 2nd Time

STATE HOUSE — The RI Home has once more OK’d laws launched by Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston) that will permit extra passengers on public faculty transport vans.

The invoice (2025-H 5420), which is supported by the Division of Schooling and the Rhode Island College Superintendents Affiliation, would amend the definition of a “Pupil Transportation Automobile” to a car constructed to seat no more than 10 passengers together with the operator, fairly than the present restrict of eight passengers, in response to an announcement from the Legislative Press and Public Information Bureau.

College Transport Vans Invoice Died in Senate in 2024

In March 2024, the bill passed the House but died in the Senate Education Committee. The invoice is as soon as once more within the Senate Schooling Committee’s palms.

“Though this invoice makes a really small change from eight to 10 passengers, it’s a small change with massive ramifications,” stated Consultant McNamara, who chairs the Home Committee on Schooling. “A number of faculty districts make the most of these automobiles, and this invoice would permit districts to move extra college students, decreasing the variety of van journeys and saving the districts cash. It could additionally assist the setting by reducing down on air pollution from fewer journeys,” McNamara stated of the invoice final yr.

There are at the moment greater than 100 bus routes within the state which have between eight and 14 passengers in them. If these routes switched to a van, it might save districts cash of their transportation prices. The laws would additionally assist to alleviate the varsity bus driver scarcity, for the reason that vans don’t require a business driver’s license to function, making it simpler to get drivers.