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School bus route price calculator
Bidding on a route? Enter what the route takes each school day and what your bus costs to run, and see the cost per day and the price to quote at your margin. Everything is worked out on this page — nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Cost per school day
Driver (with taxes & benefits)$138
Fuel$35
Maintenance & tires$21
Insurance, bus & overhead$108
Total cost$302
Price to quote
Per school day$356
Per school year$64,054
Per mile$5.93
How it's worked out
- Driver and aide: paid hours × hourly pay, plus payroll taxes and benefits.
- Fuel: miles ÷ miles per gallon × the fuel price. Maintenance and tires: miles × your cost per mile.
- Insurance, the bus (depreciation or lease) and overhead: their yearly cost ÷ school days.
- Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A 15% margin on a $500 cost is $588.24, of which $88.24 (15%) is profit.
Questions
- Should deadhead miles be included?
- Yes — count the miles from the yard to the first stop and back from the school, not just the miles with students on board.
- What's a typical margin?
- It varies by market and contract. Enter your own; the calculator shows the price for any margin.
More calculators: Fleet cost per mile calculator · Bus driver pay calculator (split shifts) · Fleet fuel cost calculator
Use your real numbers
FleetCommander keeps each route's price, its stops and times, the driver and bus on it, and the real fuel and maintenance costs per vehicle — so your next bid starts from your actual numbers.