How School Districts Waste Millions on Unused Bus Routes

Every school day, thousands of yellow buses crisscross American neighborhoods — but many are running nearly empty. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found school districts waste an estimated $4.2 billion annually on inefficient bus routing. They break down the specific case of one mid-sized district in Ohio that, by switching to a dynamic routing algorithm, cut its bus fleet by 18 percent and saved $1.4 million per year. They explore why most districts still use pen-and-paper planning, the perverse incentives that reward districts for running more buses, and what lessons this holds for other levels of government procurement. The conversation turns on a simple question: why does a government service that affects 25 million children every day still operate like it's 1975? #SchoolBuses #GovernmentWaste #PublicSpending #Efficiency #Procurement #Ohio #SchoolDistrict #Transportation #GAO #Budget #Economics #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #FiscalPolicy #PublicFinance #EducationSpending #WasteReduction Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo