Krise Bus Service now provides van transportation of students for the Bangor Area School District as well as bus service, according to a news release issued Monday.

Krise purchased the school district’s fleet of 22 vans in December, according to Lynette Viviani of Student Transportation of America. Krise is a division of the Wall, N.J.,-based transportation company. The vans went into service Jan. 2, Viviani said.

Krise has held the contract for the school district’s fleet of more than 40 full-size yellow school buses for the past five years. That contract was renewed last summer and runs through 2013.

The school district provides van service for more than 35 private, parochial and special-needs schools in an 87-square-mile area of Northampton, Lehigh and Monroe counties.

Peter Pearson, chief operating officer for Student Transportation’s central region, said Krise gave first employment consideration to van drivers already employed by the school district.