Field Trip Information

FEES:

School Bus Field Trip Rates for MPUSD Schools

    $47 Per Hour & $3.50 Per Mile.  We charge a $200 Cancellation fee if bus is not cancelled at least 24 hours prior to departure

Field Trip Requirements:

• Submit all requests on the TransTraks electronic request form.

• Please Make sure to fill the request out completely with all arrival and departure times along with student, teacher and chaperone counts (we need to have an accurate count of all passengers).

• If you have a long out of town trip with multiple stops please include an itinerary.  Any additional stops for a trip must be included with the trip request or the additional stops shall be denied.

• Bus capacity is 60 passengers(students, staff and chaperones all together for high school and middle school trips) and 70 passengers(students, staff and chaperones all together for elementary school).  NOTE: You will need to add an additional bus when exceeding these numbers.  Please generate a new trip request for each bus needed to complete the trip.  Please contact Transportation first if your trip requires a bus specially equipped to transport a wheelchair; this will have an impact on passenger capacity.

• Trips that require an overnight stay or exceed 16 hours in time will require hotel accommodations for the driver, which must be arranged for and paid by the requesting party.  

• All toll and parking fees must be paid for by the group that reserves the trip.

• MPUSD Transportation must deny your trip before you can contract with an outside agency.  All outside companies must have a satisfactory terminal inspection and all drivers that transport students must be SPAB certified.  Please contact Transportation for a list of approved vendors.

Bus Requests:

• All trip request on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday must have a Pick Up time no earlier than 9 am, unless you have contacted Transportation for a special request and it has been approved.

• All trips must return and be back to the SCHOOL SITE no later than 1:45 pm.  Bus Drivers can not miss their afternoon pick ups, unless you have made a special request that has been approved by Transportation.

• Wednesday Field trips students must be picked up no earlier than 9 am and must return to school by 12pm.  Wednesday Field trips also have the option of being picked up at the school at 3pm and returning in the evening.

• Field trips are assigned to the drivers every Wednesday for the following week.  Any scheduling changes must be requested to the Field Trip Dispatcher by Tuesday the week prior to the trip or they may be denied.  This includes any additional stops.  Drivers are strictly prohibited from making stops not already approved and specified on the trip request!

Billing:

• The mileage for weekday trips between 9-1:45 is charged from School Site back to the School Site.

• Weekend trip mileage and hours is billed from the Bus Yard back to the Bus Yard.

• Please make sure you have listed the correct budget string on your trip request.  If the cost of the trip is being covered by another site, department, agency or outside organization, do not attach a budget string, but please note and provide the specific contact and billing information.

NOTE Black-Out Dates: Certain dates and periods will be blacked out due to scheduling issues and program demands on Transportation, for example the last week of the school year.  No trips will be accepted.  We will update the blackout dates as we have more information.