Students exit a Mid Columbia Bus Co. school bus Feb. 15, 2022, at Pioneer Park in Pendleton. The Pendleton School District’s 40-year relationship with MidCo is coming to an end after the Pendleton School Board on Feb. 14, approved a bid from an Ohio bus company to take over the district’s bus service.

PENDLETON — The Pendleton School District’s 40-year relationship with Mid Columbia Bus Co. came to an end in February.

The Pendleton School Board on Monday, Feb. 14, approved a bid from First Student, a Cincinnati, Ohio, school bus company, to take over the district student transportation services for the next five years. Midco, the only other bidder for the contract, was the runner-up.

Michelle Jones, the district’s director of business services, said this was the first time Pendleton had put its school bus contract up for bid. Districts aren’t required to solicit bidders for transportation contracts, but Jones said school officials felt it was something they owed their various constituencies.

Recent years haven’t always gone smoothly for Midco.

Pendleton parents frequently complained of late buses, long routes and unchecked bullying on the buses. Some of those complaints filtered up to the school board level, where Midco representatives attributed the shortcomings to a nationwide bus driver shortage. Last summer, Midco attempted to revamp its recruitment strategy by upping bus driver wages.

First Student stated it could provide its services for $795,831 per year plus rate based fees that vary depending on bus usage.

Midco’s bid was $645,721 per year plus rate based fees.

Public comments supporting Midco didn’t deter the school board from unanimously approving the First Student bid. First Student took over bus services on July 1.

The East Oregonian is counting down its top 10 local news stories of 2022 (barring, of course, another major news story before the end of the year).

We derived our top 10 from analytics about what was popular online as well as our sense of what was newsworthy. Our top 10 contains a variety of stories, and we also encourage you to share your ideas for top 10 local news stories.