The school board voted last week to accept low bids for bus services throughout the district and for custodial work at A.L. Mathers school in Sandspit. In both cases, the new contracts will save money.The board awarded the bus contract to First Bus Canada Ltd of Kitimat, the same company that runs the bus service now, for another four years. Secretary-treasurer Ken Campbell told trustees that the new bid - $318,530 a year - is $13,000 lower than what the district is paying this year.One trustee asked whether the bid was lower because routes had been cut, but Mr. Campbell said the bus routes will remain exactly the same as they are now.He added that the bid was based on 185 days of bus service a year, but there will actually be five days without bus service at all due to the board's decision last month to hold all professional development days on the same day. That means the cost could end up being even lower, he said.The board also received a bid for bus service from O'Brien's Road and Bridge of Port Clements for $341,115 per year for the four-year contract.The custodial contract at A.L. Mathers was awarded to Northern Shores Logging of Sandspit, with a bid of $77,000 for the two-year contract. This is $1,000 less than the previous two-year contract, Mr. Campbell said.The board received two other bids for the work, both from Sandspit: $78,000 from Five Point Services and $88,415 from Dan and Laurel MacNeil.