Student transportation for forestry field labs is an important and costly topic. I am gathering all the responses to Monica’s request here. It’s something all forest technology programs need to consider.

Our school is considering selling our motor pool and going to rentals.  I am trying to find forestry/natural resource technical programs that did this and what the impact was.  Any help getting this inquiry out would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Monica Spicker
Instructor, Natural Resources Program
Dept Chair, Environmental Sciences Dept.
Spokane Community College

From Harry Hutchins at Itasca Community College in Minnesota
At Itasca CC we sometimes do not have enough vans for the whole college to  use so we have to either rent a  van from a local car dealer or take a regional bus service.  We only have 2,  10 passenger vans plus an 8 passenger Expedition for the college to use (that includes sports teams).  The Bus service hesitates to go off  on Forestry roads, or snow banks in the winter are problems.  We use to have 4, 12 passenger vans but times have changed.  So I may often  get another big van at the car dealer if I do not have room.

From Peter Linehan at Penn State Mont Alto
At Penn State Mont Alto we have a bus and a dump truck that were paid for by an alumni donation. That seems to be the most economical on operating costs if you are fortunate enough to have a wealthy alumnus. We also have two vans on campus from the Univesity motor pool. They charge our budget on a per mile basis. That includes gas, too.

Occasionally we have rented vans, mostly for long trips and woodsmen’s meets. We get a discount from Enterprise. We use the bus a lot for field labs, so I don’t think rentals would be very good.

Sometimes I have thought of just telling students where to meet us in the forest for labs. Most of them have their own trucks. But that would be really awkward and maybe even unsafe.

From Michael Fisher at Central Oregon Community College
We use both motorpool vehicles and rentals.  Basically, we pay too much for our own motorpool vans to use them for long fieldtrips and can get save some money and have more flexibility if we rent.  The down side is I spent many a year on Enterprise’s black list for having vans brought back dirty/muddy.  An additional challenge has been to ensure that the vans are there when we need them, typically the night before.  We’ve recently got a new motorpool manager who wants to work with us and save us from having to rent in order to get better, more cost effective service.

From Chris Westbrook at the SUNY-ESF Ranger School
At the Ranger School we have used fleet vehicles for many years.  We normally have been given the worn out and heavily used vehicles from the main campus in Syracuse or vans that were picked up at state auctions.  We then pay a per mile charge for these vehicles.

This fall we were able to strike a deal with the administration to purchase two vans (a 15-passenger and a 12-passenger).  The college “floated” us a loan and we will pay this back over the next several years.  We will not have to pay a mileage charge for these vans but will pay for gas.  These are new vans so we are very pleased with this new arrangement.  Of course we will still need to use some of the fleet vehicles and pay those charges.

From Matt Chagnon at the University of New Hampshire
We have 2 buses and 2 vans of our own.  We have looked at renting.  It may be a little cheaper, but it is not worth the flexibility that you give up.  I agree with Michael that the muddy floors are always an issue.

From Brian Clark at Horry Georgetown Technical College
No rentals used here. Our Department maintains a fleet of five vans. Two are College Pool Vans dedicated to our Department and three are Department owned vans via a grant. We pay $0.51 a mile for their use and pay general maintenance (oil change and cleaning as needed).

From Rick Sypolt at Glenville State College
I have two vans which we have bought and maintain.  Probably not the cheapest way to go, but they are always available and we usually don’t put a lot of miles on them, so maintenance is reasonably cheap.