Septran

Septran provides student transportation serving communities in Illinois and Minnesota. Our mission is getting students to school safely, on time and ready to learn®. Safety is one of our core company values, and nothing is more important than the safety of our passengers.

At Septran, our number one goal is always to provide the safest transportation, because your safety is our biggest priority. From short local trips to all-day and multi-day trips, we are dedicated to providing exceptional service. Providing excellent service to our customers is how we have built our reputation.

e Value Safety

Safety is one of our core company values, and nothing is more important than the safety of our passengers.

There is no safer way to transport students to school than on a school bus.* Our goal is to provide the safest transportation possible for students who ride our buses. We don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Driving Out Harm

Driving Out Harm is our principal safety program. It aims to educate all employees on how important it is to drive out all risks of harm to our customers, employees and others affected by our business. We are all leaders in safety at National Express School and have personal responsibility for safety in the workforce and safety on the roads. Through our 12 Global Standards, we identify all national and local requirements, appropriate levels of management and supervision, and expect all levels of personnel to manage our health and safety policies. We feel confident that our program is a significant distinction from all other school bus providers and is an ideal fit for your district’s expectations.

- Competence and Fitness of Bus Drivers
- Competence and Fitness of Maintenance Staff
- Competence and Fitness of Other Staff Personnel
- Drug and Alcohol Screening
- Safety of Vehicles
- Safety of Premises
- Risk Assessment
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Accident and Incident Investigation
- Incident Response and Management
- Safety Audit and Management Checks
- Safety Validation of Change

Daily & Preventive Maintenance
We are industry leaders when it comes to maintaining our buses to ensure passenger safety. Our safety begins with safe vehicles. Our 13-touchpoint pre- and post-trip inspection is industry leading. We monitor both vehicle maintenance and perform diligent child checks using state-of-the-art Zonar® technology.

Our school district partners benefit from our nationally recognized preventive maintenance program. Our industry-leading preventive maintenance schedule goes above and beyond government requirements. Every school day, our drivers do a multi-point inspection before and after each route to check for maintenance issues that need immediate attention. In addition, all buses are subject to comprehensive preventive maintenance inspections at least three times a year; that is above and beyond government requirements. All inspections include examining everything from addressing cosmetic issues to checking tires, brakes, engine performance and suspension.

Vehicles are maintained in accordance with manufacturer recommendations and requirements. Our preventive maintenance program meets and exceeds state and federal inspection requirements. In addition, we follow our company’s preventive maintenance program:

- No bus leaves the lot to pick up students without the driver having first completed a multi-point, pre-trip inspection that documents any safety or maintenance issue—no matter how small—and clears the bus for travel. Critical issues are reported to our service center where crews are dispatched to make repairs.
- Many of our buses are equipped with technology that constantly monitors the vehicle’s operating condition, sending real-time data back to our dispatchers who ensure that no critical issues put the safe operating condition of the bus at risk.
- Our drivers have the freedom to escalate any maintenance issue to a critical level—providing a check-and-balance to ensure that no bus takes to the road with an issue that could lead to a breakdown or that could inconvenience student passengers.

Recruitment

Our corporate recruitment team will partner with local operations staff to develop a comprehensive staffing campaign, including appropriate print and online advertising, promotions with local vendors, and various other techniques customized for your community. Working closely with the local management team, we use a variety of recruitment techniques to attract employees from your local area.

We practice preferential hiring with the district’s existing employees. After the partnership with a district begins, we will hold a “meet and greet” for all current transportation employees. We know that a change in employers can be difficult and that the earlier we communicate with the affected staff, the better the transition is for everyone. Our objective for this meeting is to provide information about our company practices and to encourage open communication. We will explain the hiring process, expectations of our employees, and review our wages, benefits and operating policies. Time is allocated for questions and answers.

For any additional staffing needs, we have expert recruiters to staff our operations at or above required levels at all times. Our recruiting professionals research market driven salaries from local and surrounding communities, including salaries from other industries which may compete for front line employees and uses this key information to ensure our salaries remain competitive in the market.