Photos by Carrie Pryor-Newman
John O’Brien performs maintenance on a GCCISD school bus in one of eight new bays.
GCCISD Transportation Employees Settle Into New Home
By Beth Dombrowa
Transportation Director Rick Walterscheid overlooks the maintenance bays in the new Transportation Center.
Goose Creek CISD transportation employees moved into their new home over the Thanksgiving break and, following years of working out of portables in separate locations, the team couldn’t be happier with their new digs located at Stallworth Stadium.
The Goose Creek CISD Transportation Center, a project approved by voters as part of the 2013 bond, features eight maintenance bays, training space for new drivers, energy-efficient lighting and high-tech equipment that will enable bus routes to run more smoothly. Soon, the center will be equipped with newer technology that will monitor each bus’s mileage, fuel consumption and maintenance schedule, which will improve the district’s maintenance personnel ability to perform preventative maintenance before mechanical issues arise. On-site fueling stations can fuel six buses at a single time.
“Being centrally located as a department helps us better communicate and respond to any issues quickly,” said Transportation Director Rick Walterscheid. “Transportation in a district of our size and scale is a very complex operation. Being in a single location means that we can operate even more efficiently, and we’re grateful to the voters of our community who identified the need for a Transportation Center and helped make it a reality.”
Every day, the GCCISD transportation department delivers about 16,000 students to and from school for a total of more than 600 routes. Combined with field trips and transportation between campuses for career and technical classes and dual credit, the department operates almost 24/7 and drives close to 3 million miles annually.
“My team now can come to a well-lit, safe facility that is suitable for the needs of our department,” Walterscheid said.
The highly effective facility mirrors that of the GCCISD department. Future goals for implementation include improved GPS, newer generation security cameras and student tracking to improve communication with parents. The district continues to strive to have one of the most up-to-date fleets in the greater Houston area.