John Hayden, 63, of Calumet City, is a school bus driver for Cook-Illinois Corporation’s Grand Prairie Transit-Willow Springs subsidiary. He is one of a growing number of drivers fighting that statistic, one pound at a time, thanks to the Oak Forest-based company’s new wellness program.

With a 34-pound weight loss over a three-month period last year, Hayden won the subsidiary’s “Biggest Loser” competition and took home the grand prize of $250. “Even if no money were involved, I still would have done it,” he explains. “It was nice winning money, don’t get me wrong, but it was worth it just losing the weight.” Prior to his weight loss, Hayden suffered from high blood pressure and other health issues which have now been resolved.
“At any given time, almost two percent of our employees are missing work due to some type of medical reason,” explains Steve Miller, Human Resource manager for Cook-Illinois Corporation. “In the past year, almost 60 employees had to resign because of medical issues. We’re talking about diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Many are not just missing work, but cutting their lives short.”

Cook-Illinois Corporation, a family owned and operated business with 2,700 school bus drivers and monitors, and more than 300 office and shop personnel, has empowered a ‘wellness captain’ at each of its 19 suburban school bus subsidiaries. To date, the company has invested over $22,000 in programs to improve drivers’ health.
Earlier this month, the company launched a discounted membership program with Charter Fitness, enabling employees to pay just $10 per month. The company contributes another $10 per month for the premium membership, allowing participants to work out at any club location, get personalized training and bring a “buddy” to work out with. In addition, Cook-Illinois has removed junk food and soda pop from its subsidiaries’ vending machines and replaced it with healthier food choices in drivers’ break rooms. Walking clubs have been established in many locations so that drivers can exercise between morning and afternoon routes, typically down time for school bus drivers.
“I’ve lost 8 1/2 to 9 pounds in the program so far and my goal is 30,” says Andy Townsend, a driver for Grant Prairie Transit – Willow Springs. “I feel good just waking up in the morning now.”

Townsend’s manager, Terry Boxel, sees other benefits to the wellness program too. “More people are getting along,” she explains. “People who never used to talk, now have the opportunity to get to know one another in a healthy way.” Currently, 27 Grand Prairie Transit-Willow Springs employees have taken advantage of the gym membership.
Drew Tierney, Manager of the American School Bus-Frankfort subsidiary, has noticed that drivers are starting to compete with their company-issued pedometers to see who walks the most each day. “The employees are taking advantage of this program,” he explains. “Before, they used to sit, talk and socialize in between shifts. Now that it is starting to get cold, we provide a car to take the walkers to a mall nearby.”
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Scan cards attached to students’ backpacks allow school officials to see when and where a student got on and off a school bus.

“I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s long overdue. I think that as a parent the safety of your child taking the bus is the number one concern,” said Leslie Baudo, parent.

The system is called ZPass, a way for Palos Heights School District 128 to track hundreds of students who board buses every day.

When a child gets on or off the bus, this electronic reader card — attached to a backpack — registers date, time, and location information, relaying it to computers that can be viewed by school officials.

“Well, with my son, he was over an hour late a couple years ago, and you stand there and you wait, and you wait and you wait,” said Baudo, parent.

“Every year we get phone calls from parents saying my child’s not home yet – do you know if the bus is late or where they are? Now we can go on, punch in a number of that child, and see exactly where they are, if they’re still on the bus or if they’ve gotten off the bus,” said Kathleen Casey/Supt., Palos Heights School Dist. 128.

The system is designed to prevent situations like the one that occurred in west suburban St. Charles last week. A kindergarten student was temporarily lost after being dropped off at the wrong stop.

ZPass won’t prevent a student from getting on the wrong bus or getting off at the wrong place, and it won’t locate a child after he or she has left the bus — but it does say where and when a student was dropped off.

“I just think it’s a great way to utilize technology in this day and age. Everybody should be doing that,” said Donna Pawlak, parent.

ZPass is costing the district $16,000, though officials say it’s a one-time fee, and they hope to recover some of that cost through the state.

As for the kids, most seem oblivious to the new technology.

“I wish it was a yellow smiley face, not pink,” said Joe Walsh, student.

Go-Ahead will own 50% of the JV, with the other 50% held by Cook-Illinois Corp (“Cook-Illinois”). Cook-Illinois is an established, high quality school bus operator based near Chicago. The JV will be focused on new yellow school bus contracts outside Cook-Illinois’ home market of Chicago and the surrounding area.

Keith Ludeman, Chief Executive of Go-Ahead, said: “This JV is an exciting new venture for Go-Ahead. It represents an excellent, low risk and financially disciplined way for us to gradually build an operation in this strategically attractive market. The North American yellow school bus market shares many of the same characteristics as our UK bus operations and we are delighted to be working with Cook-Illinois, one of the largest school bus fleet operators in the United States. We both believe passionately in running high quality operations with a strong local focus and identity. The JV will draw upon the expertise of both of our organisations to explore potential opportunities.”

John Benish, Chief Operating Officer for Cook-Illinois, said: “Cook-Illinois and Go-Ahead share similar strategies and approaches to transportation. Both companies are committed to the safety of their passengers. Each company has used innovative strategies to solve environmental issues pertaining to transportation. Cook-Illinois has focused on a community based approach to student transportation since it began operating yellow school buses over 50 years ago. With the shortage of resources facing many school districts in this country, it is a perfect time to share our cost saving solutions. This joint venture will help to provide efficient, environmentally friendly transportation solutions to our customers while expanding into new markets.”

At this stage, the JV does not operate any contracts and hence has no significant financial commitments.

Go-Ahead’s strategy remains to provide quality, locally focused passenger transport services in high density, urban markets in the UK, without ruling out value-adding overseas opportunities. Go-Ahead is committed to maintaining strong financial discipline: strong balance sheet and cash flows, secure financing and maintenance of a progressive dividend policy.