question
Do you know how to get an "in" with school districts to rent their buses and drivers for a contracted ride? I take people on backpacking trips into the remote wilderness and think that school districts would like the extra income from shuttling people using buses that would otherwise just be sitting in a lot.
Steve Silberberg
Fitpacking Weight Loss Backpacking Adventure
answer
I can offer some good news and some bad news.
One element of positive news stems from the fact that school district addresses (and the district bus garage addresses) are public information. This means there are dozens of ways to generate your own list using public information databases at the local library. If yours doesn't have access, or librarians with business knowledge, try a great business library like the Hill Reference Library in St. Paul. University librarians are also great.
Need information fast and have some budget available? There are many list sources on the Web that will gladly sell you a compiled list.
The bad news in both cases is that if you manage to get the actual names of the superintendent and, more importantly, the manager of transportation services, these names have a high likelihood of being out of date. So, if you are looking at getting "in" with a relatively small, targeted segment of districts, creating your own list may be preferred.
Note also that many districts contract with independent companies to shuttle students. This represents an obvious challenge, and also an opportunity.
It's not a certainty that idle buses can generate new income for districts. In order to contract with your firm, school districts will need to carry additional insurance during the summer that may cost more than revenue from your business. Added liability may be enough to keep a conversation from even starting.
However, the bus contractors already carry the necessary insurance. Further, you can get lists of these firms and the decisionmakers by investing in some advertising in bus fleet trade magazines.
About the author
Michael Porter is the director of the master's in health care communication at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.
