school bus

 

A school bus or school omnibus is a bus used to transport children and adolescents to and from school. The first school bus was horse-drawn, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom and was designed to carry 25 children.[1]

The bus has subsequently become a major mode of transportation, particularly for transporting children to school. Children may travel to school on regular public bus services. In some cases public bus services may run field trips and high school athletic events, and private coach services may put on their own paid services. In North America, however, the school bus is itself a specific type of bus distinct from other buses. Canada and the United States have specially built, painted and equipped school buses. They are commonly painted a "yellow-orange" color (officially known as "National School Bus Chrome Yellow") for purposes of visibility and safety and equipped with specialized traffic warning devices, with the exception of school activity buses (normally used exclusively for point-to-point field and athletic trips and not used for home delivery routes) which are built to the same standards but are customarily some color other than orange and are usually not equipped with traffic warning devices. Most purchased in recent years have been diesel-powered or hybrid. Full-size school buses can seat 59 to 90 passengers, but in many districts smaller vehicles are used as well. Such smaller vehicles are commonly known as "short buses", and are often used for low-density routes associated with private schools and programs for magnet programs and developmentally-challenged students.

Most U.S. school districts purchase the buses and hire their own drivers, while others engage the service of school bus contractors such as Laidlaw to perform this function. School bus services in the UK in almost all cases are contracted out to local bus companies. Elsewhere in Europe school bus services are contracted to local bus companies, which use regional buses that operate on regular lines at other times, or in some cases older regional buses.

History

Early modes: wagons, kid hacks

Wayne Works, predecessor of Wayne Corporation, was founded in the United States of America in 1837. By 1886, and possibly earlier, it is known that the company was making horse-drawn school carriages which many people referred to as "school hacks," "school cars," "school trucks," or "kid hacks." ("hack" was a term for certain types of horse-drawn carriages.) In this era, in rural areas, it was very common to use farm wagons to transport children to schools throughout North America, with regional adaptations such as sleds in extreme northern climates.

Motorized vehicles, early school buses

In 1914, Wayne Works dropped a wooden kid hack onto an automobile chassis, creating a predecessor to the modern motor school bus. In the bodies for school transportation the company produced through this era, passengers sat on perimeter seating, facing the center rather than the front of the bus. Entry and egress was through a door at the rear, a design begun in non-motorized days so as not to startle the horses. This was possibly a precursor to the rear emergency door commonly found on modern school buses.

In 1927, Blue Bird Body Company and Wayne Works began building all-steel bus bodies In 1932, Gillig Bros. built their first school bus, which was an all-steel unit and by the mid 1930s, nearly every school bus manufacturer was using steel over wood or other materials for body construction. In the 1930s, many school bus manufacturers also began installing additional exterior "rails" along the length of their buses to add structural rigidity and to aid in passenger protection. Known as either crash, rub, or guard rails, Wayne Works was the first known manufacturer to utilize them in bus construction.

Early school buses primarily served rural areas where it was deemed impractical for the young students to walk the distances necessary to get back and forth from school on their own, and were sometimes no more than a truck with perhaps a tarpaulin stretched over the truck bed.

Wayne Works was one of the earliest school bus companies to offer glass in place of the standard canvas curtains in the passenger area long before many "school" bus companies did in the early 1930s^{[citation needed]}, although it was Gillig Bros, who had invented and patented the design long before [2]. Known as the "California top", the design featured a slightly curved reinforced metal roof, with windows separated by pillars at regular intervals, and each window was adjustable by the use of a latching mechanism.

Transit-style school buses

In the 1930s, Wayne Works, Crown Coach, Gillig Bros., and other school bus body companies manufactured some transit-style school buses, that is, types with a more or less flat front-end design (known in modern times as "type D" school buses). Crown Coach built the first heavy duty, high capacity, transit style school coach in 1932 and named it the "Supercoach", as many California school districts operated in terrain requiring heavy duty vehicles. Another factor in the rapid rise in transit-style school bus sales in the 1950s, especially on the West Coast, was the "Baby Boom" generation. School districts were faced with a rapid rise in student counts and were forced to consolidate, buy larger school buses, or both. As a result, the use of the transit style school bus skyrocketed during the mid 1950s. In 1959, Gillig Bros. introduced the very first rear-engine diesel-powered school bus. The C-180 Transit Coach soon afterwards became the most popular rear-engine transit-style school bus on the west coast.

In 1950, Albert L. Luce, founder of the Blue Bird Body Company, developed a transit style design which evolved into the Blue Bird All-American, generally considered the first successful east coast school bus transit design. However, the "conventional" design, with a truck type hood and front-end (known as type C on modern school buses) was to continue to dominate US school bus manufacturing through the end of the 20th century.

Dr. Frank W. Cyr: father of the yellow school bus

Most school buses turned the now-familiar yellow color beginning in 1939. In April of that year, Dr. Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York organized a conference that established national school bus construction standards, including the standard color of yellow for the school bus. It became known officially as "National School Bus Chrome," later renamed "National School Bus Glossy Yellow." The color, which has come to be frequently called simply "school bus yellow", was selected because black lettering on that hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon.

The conference met for seven days and the attendees created a total of 45 standards, including specifications regarding body length, ceiling height, and aisle width. Dr. Cyr's conference, funded by a US $5,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, was also a landmark event inasmuch as it included transportation officials from each of the then 48 states, as well as specialists from school bus manufacturing and paint companies. The conference approach to school bus safety, as well as the yellow color, has endured into the 21st century.

Growth in school bus use after World War II

Following World War II, there were movements in Canada and the U.S. to consolidate public schools into fewer and larger ones, leading to an increase in demand for school buses. Rapid urban growth also outpaced school construction; coupled with the population expansion brought on by the baby boomers themselves having children, the need for busing within large urban centres in North America became acute.^{[citation needed]}

United States safety issues

Protecting school children loading and unloading

By the mid 1940s, most states had traffic laws requiring motorists to stop for school buses while children were loading or unloading.^{[citation needed]} The justifications for this protocol were that:

• Children, especially the younger ones, have normally not yet developed the mental capacity to fully embrace the danger and consequences of crossing safety without adult supervision. Under U.S. tort laws, a child cannot legally be held accountable for negligence for this reason. For that same reason, adult crossing guards often are deployed in walking zones between homes and schools.

• It is impractical in many cases to avoid children crossing the traveled portions of roadways after leaving a school bus or to have an adult accompany them.

• The size of a school bus generally limits visibility for both the children and motorists during loading and unloading.

Warning lights and safety devices

School bus safety officials were aware that many accidents occurred when traffic was not aware that the hazard existed, and children on foot were hit by other vehicles. The standardized yellow color helped and warning lettering was painted in large letters on school buses. Several devices were developed to help school bus drivers warn other motorists.

Around 1946, one of the early (and possibly the first) systems of alternating traffic warning lights on school buses was used in Virginia. In those days before the advent of transistors and advanced plastic lens technology, an alternating system was created by using sealed beam headlight bulbs with the lenses colored red, and a mechanical motor and solenoids to alternate the high and low beam filaments in the single bulb fixtures mounted at the front and rear of the bus. School children and drivers were subjected to a loud tick-tock noise from the flasher motor as it was operating. Activation was typically through a mechanical switch attached to the door control. However, on some buses such as Gillig's Transit Coach models and the Kenworth-Pacific School Coach, activation of the roof warning lamp system was through the use of a pressure sensitive switch on a manually-controlled stop paddle lever located to the left of the driver's seat below the window. Whenever the pressure was relieved by extending the stop paddle, the electrical current was activated to the relay.

Around this time, some states began specifying a mechanical stop arm (some state specifications, such as Washington state refer to the device as a "stop paddle", due to its resemblance to a large paddle) which the driver could activate to swing out from the left side of the bus to warn traffic. The portion of the stop arm protruding in front of traffic initially started out as a rectangle with "STOP" painted on it, and in the late 1960s the rectangle shape was replaced by an octagon-shaped sign bearing a typical stop sign, with "STOP" applied to both sides.

In later years, flashing lights were added to the stop arms, mechanical flasher devices were replaced by electronic ones, and the front and rear warning lights were increased from two to four and eventually eight (in most states; Wisconsin still does not allow the use of a full 8-way roof warning flasher system). Plastic lenses were developed in the 1950s which offered greater visibility and significantly lower costs than the early systems which used colored headlight bulbs, although manufacturers such as Gillig and Crown Coach Corporation were still using the sealed-beam glass bulb design until well into the 1980s and early 1990s.

Many school districts are purchasing buses with two stop arms, the additional one located on the left side near the rear of the bus, for extra safety.

School bus stop laws

Main article: School bus traffic stop laws

School bus stop laws vary by locale and there is controversy^{[citation needed]} regarding them and school bus safety.

Protecting children from their own bus

A major hazard to children riding school buses is being struck by their own bus. In the United States, approximately 2/3 of students killed outside a school bus are not struck by other vehicles, but by their own bus.^[1] Recently, many buses have been equipped with wire or plastic arms which extend from the front bumper on the right side of the bus while it is stopped for loading/unloading. The purpose of the device is that children who need to cross the road will be forced to walk several feet forward of the front of the bus itself before they can begin to cross the road, thus ensuring that the bus driver can see them as they cross in front of the bus, avoiding a common blind spot immediately in front of the bus.

Key concepts

The key concepts for preventative measures are under the control of school bus drivers and their riders:^{[citation needed]}

• A stationary bus cannot run over a rider. In the morning, students should already be at a bus stop and standing stationary as a bus approaches, rather than running toward it as it approaches. Likewise, many school bus drivers avoid after-school loading hazards by arriving and positioning their buses for loading before dismissal whenever possible, so that buses are not moving as the students are dismissed and prepare to load.
• A school bus driver will not run over a child he or she can see.
• School bus drivers cannot accidentally run over children who are on board. If backing up or other traffic maneuvers are to take place at the same location as a bus stop, consider a routine to have the children on board while the movement is made.
• Planned routines are safer than last-minute changes.
• Riders should never run when approaching a school bus.
• Get away from the area close to a bus when you get off.
• Never immediately go back near a stopped bus to retrieve anything you may have dropped.
• Avoid drawstrings on clothing and possessions which may get entangled while boarding or getting off the bus.

Danger zones

• The area in front of a school bus has long been known as generally the most hazardous "danger zone". An increasingly sophisticated array of mirror systems have been developed to enable school bus drivers to see children who may otherwise have been obscured from view in what was long a "blind spot." Crossing gates (also called crossing arms) were developed to encourage those children crossing in front of a bus to move away from the bumper area and into an area with a better view of drivers. Additionally, there has also been a trend toward bus designs with less inherent blind spots at the front.

• The second most dangerous zone is the area on the right side and at the right rear wheels. For this reason, many schools and parents provide safety instruction urging students:
  • When boarding, stay well away from the bus until it is fully stopped. Never approach a moving bus.
  • When leaving the bus, if not crossing the street or road, move away from the bus immediately after getting off, rather than walking closely along the side of it.

• The third area of hazards are the loading doors. A drawstring or loose clothing may catch on something as a student gets off. If the driver isn't aware, the student may still be attached to the outside of the bus as it begins to pull away. To reduce the risk of this happening, school bus manufacturers have reduced the types of handles and equipment near the stepwell area, and children were urged to consider this risk factor when selecting clothing and accessories. Older students are at equal risk with younger ones in this regard.

Structural integrity

As the school bus evolved in the United States and Canada as a specialized vehicle, there became concerns for the protection of the school children during major impacts. A weak point and location of structural failure in catastrophic school bus crashes was well-known to be joints, the points where panels and pieces were fastened together.

Longitudinal steel guard rails had been in use since the 1930s to protect the sides of buses, but behind them on the sides and on the roofs, by the 1960s, all manufacturers were combining many individual steel panels to construct a bus body. These were usually attached by rivets or similar fasteners such as huckbolts.

Around 1967, Ward Body Company of Conway, Arkansas subjected one of their school bus bodies to multiple roll, and noted the separation at the joints, as well as pointing out that many of their competitors were using far fewer rivets. This resulted in new attention by all the body companies to the number and quality of fasteners.

Simply increasing the number of fasteners (rivets, screws, and huckbolts) was not enough to satisfy engineers at Wayne Corporation in Richmond, Indiana. In their tests, no matter how many fasteners were used, the joints were always the weak point under high stress loads. They also noted how the continuous guard rails used on the sides tended to spread the stress from a point of impact, allowing it to be shared and dissipated at portions of the body structure further away.

Instead of trying to figure out how to make the fasteners do a better job, they stood back and wondered if the design features of the guard rails could be expanded. The result was a revolutionary new design in school bus construction: Continuous longitudinal interior and exterior panels for the sides and roofs.

Branded the Lifeguard, the new school bus design used Wayne's huge roll-forming presses to make single steel pieces which extended the entire length of the bus body. The concept was that by reducing the number of joints, the number of places where the body could be anticipated to separate in a catastrophic impact was reduced in a like amount.

The "Lifeguard" design reduced overall body weight, the number of fasteners used, and man-hours required for assembly. However, it required the very large roll-form presses and special equipment to handle the panels. A more practical problem was the panels had to be cut to exact length for each bus body order, which varied with seating capacities and from state-to-state. This created a marketing disadvantage as the Wayne factory required greater manufacturing lead time than when parts were more interchangeable between orders under older panel technology.

In the years after Wayne introduced the Lifeguard design in the 1973 model year, competing body manufacturers began moving towards using fewer side panels and joints, although none went as far as Wayne in the 1970s.

Federal standards for school buses

The focus on structural integrity resulted in the joint requirements of the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses, most of which became applicable for school buses on April 1, 1977. The following, including Standard 221 (joint strength) are generally considered to be the most important, even thirty years later.

Standard No. 217 - Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release (Effective September 1, 1973) This standard establishes minimum requirements for bus window retention and release to reduce the likelihood of passenger ejection in crashes; and for emergency exits to facilitate passenger exit in emergencies. It also requires that each school bus have an interlock system which will prevent the engine from starting if an emergency door is locked and an audible warning system which will sound an alarm if an emergency door release mechanism is not closed while the engine is running.

Standard No. 220 - School Bus Rollover Protection (Effective April 1, 1977) This standard establishes performance requirements for school bus rollover protection. The purpose of this standard is to reduce the number of deaths and the severity of injuries that result from failure of the school bus body structure to withstand forces encountered in rollover crashes.

Standard No. 221 - School Bus Body Joint Strength (Effective April 1, 1977) This standard establishes requirements for the strength of the body panel joints in school bus bodies. The purpose of this standard is to reduce deaths and injuries resulting from the structural collapse of school bus bodies during crashes.

Standard No. 222 - School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection (Effective April 1, 1977) This standard establishes occupant protection requirements for school bus passenger seating and restraining barriers. The purpose of this standard is to reduce the number of deaths and the severity of injuries that result from the impact of school bus occupants against structures within the vehicle during crashes and sudden driving maneuvers.

Standard No. 301 - Fuel System Integrity - School Buses (Effective April 1, 1977) This standard specifies requirements for the integrity of motor vehicle fuel systems. Its purpose is to reduce deaths and injuries occurring from fires that may result from fuel spillage during and after motor vehicle crashes.

Continuing safety efforts since 1977

The new Federal Standards of 1977 for school buses represented a quantum leap in school bus safety. Other efforts and innovations were to continue.

More sophisticated and comprehensive mirror systems were developed to help drivers see children who were off the bus at almost all times.

Crossing gates were developed to help children avoid walking in the area immediately in front of the bus.

Reflective striping, LED and strobe lights were added in the 1980s and 1990s.

Modern school buses are often well equipped with amenities lacking only a few years ago such as air conditioning, two-way radios, high headroom roofs (Gillig and Crown Coach were producing high-headroom school buses as early as the mid 1950s) and wheelchair lifts (typically those with lifts are shorter than their counterparts and are sometimes exclusively assigned to carry disabled children).

Video cameras and recorders have become common equipment installed inside school buses, primarily to monitor (and record) behavior of the passengers. However, on March 28, 2000, a Murray County, Georgia, school bus was involved in a wreck with a CSX freight train at an unsignalled grade crossing, killing 3 children. Although the school bus driver claimed to have stopped and looked for approaching trains before proceeding across the tracks, the onboard camera clearly recorded that the bus had not stopped as it approached the tracks prior to the collision.

Seat belts in school buses

Compartmentalization was introduced in 1967, setting the ideal seat back height at 28 inches (although most seat heights are now 24 inches tall).^{[citation needed]} The premise was that surrounding passengers with cushioning to the front and behind provide effective constraint in the event of a collision.

Although not an element of compartmentalization, the UCLA researchers who conducted the 1967 tests on school buses concluded that after high back seats, next in importance to school bus passenger collision safety is the "use of a three-point belt, a lap belt or other form of effective restraint."

Very few school buses have seat belts, a standard safety feature in cars and light duty passenger vehicles. In 1977, as provided in Standard 222, the federal government required passive restraint and structural integrity standards for school buses in lieu of requiring lap seat belts. In the 1980s, some districts in the US tried installing lap belts and then later removed them, claiming operational and passenger behavior problems. Whether lap belts should be required remains very controversial, although they are now required in at least 4 states (New York, New Jersey, California and Florida).^{[citation needed]} School buses in Texas will be required to be equipped with seat belts by 2010/2011.^[2]

However, only one state, New Jersey, requires seat belt usage.^{[citation needed]} In other states it is up to the district whether to use seat belts or not.

Arguments Against Seat Belts

School buses have an excellent safety record, and are among the safest forms of travel despite not having seat belts. School buses are heavy and move slowly; in the event of an accident, it cannot experience that same drastic change in speed and direction as smaller automobiles do (see Newton's laws of motion). Hence passengers are not thrown from their seats as easily, unlike automobiles.^[3]

Most fatal injuries on school buses are of other types than those preventable by seat belts.^{[citation needed]} Compartmentalization already provides an effective constraint system, and having seat belts is seen as a redundant system. At costs of $1500 per bus to install lap belts and more for 3-point belts, the money needed to supply seat belts can be better spent in other, more protective systems.^[4]

Lap belts can be unsafe for young children.^{[citation needed]} In any case, seat belts are a hindrance in cases of rapid evacuation. Children can become unable to free themselves. On buses equipped with seat belts, users typically ignore the seat belts, and in some bus routes, there are more children per seat than seat belts. Some children may even swing the belt around at those near them, in which case the heavy metal buckle can be quite dangerous.

Arguments For Seat Belts

Arguments for seat belts generally come from concerned parents and teachers. The issue is on the agenda for the national PTA in Washington, although not a high priority at this time.

First, studies showing the ineffectiveness of seat belts on school buses are flawed. Some believe Standard 222 was doctored by the NHTSA to meet other agendas. Others point to the use of lap belts over three-point belts, frontal crash tests over side impact tests, and the lack of rollover tests. All of these would have significantly improved the performance of seat belts versus compartmentalization.^[5]

Second, cost effectiveness is always a controversial issue. Some parents would argue that even saving the life of one child justifies the increased costs of installing seat belts. Diminished seating capacity can be offset by purchasing additional buses, and safety should be a higher priority than saving money.

Third, three-point belt systems are promoted over lap belts, (lap belts which were criticized for causing injury to younger children). Studies have been conducted using three point belts by companies who manufacture them; these studies prove that the child's safety is greatly increased when using their product. (http://www.safeguardseat.com/)^[6] As to the issue of rapid evacuation, it can be argued that children wearing the seat belts are physically unharmed to begin with and therefore should be able to get themselves out. Finally, drivers will be forced to enforce the wearing of seat belts as part of the legislation.

Standards for non-school bus operatives

Main article: Carrollton bus disaster

Church bus and school bus safety have always been closely related issues in the United States. However, they were linked more closely in the aftermath of a tragedy in 1988.

A bus accident at Carrollton, Kentucky in 1988 involving a church bus which had been originally built and served as a school bus was one of the worst bus accidents in United States history. The driver and 26 other people, many of them teenagers and younger, were killed in the crash and the ensuing fire, and 34 other bus passengers sustained minor to critical injuries. Only six bus passengers were not injured. It was quickly realized that many factors came together in tragedy that terrible night. While the immediate cause was the drunk driver of the other vehicle, it was additionally realized that most of the deaths on the bus occurred because the occupants could not evacuate promptly after the impact.

Many things needed action to help prevent or at least reduce the possibility of such a tragedy happening again. It was particularly painful to some participants during the aftermath to realize that a contributing factor to the accident itself and the severity were loopholes between the laws and procedures for a school bus and those involving the same vehicle after it became a church bus.

The accident resulted in a National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB)^[7] investigation and report, as well as extensive media coverage and considerable litigation. Subsequently, many federal, state, and local agencies and bus manufacturers changed regulations, vehicle features, and operating practices. One of the key factors in making the event as tragic as it became was the fact that the bus was of an obsolete design which had been abandoned in school bus construction after April 1, 1977. The unprotected fuel tank was actually mounted outside the frame rails near the front of the bus. This bus was also fueled by gasoline rather than the more typical modern choice of diesel fuel. While pre-1977 buses have long been phased out of most school bus usage, many similar buses are still in use as church buses, which are far less regulated, even today.

Many of the hundreds of various professional individuals who were involved in aspects of 1988 accident and the aftermath hoped that their efforts then and since will continue to contribute to making sure that such a combination of human and vehicle flaws will never result in another tragedy of this magnitude. Yet even 19 years later, some also feel that it is important to revisit the issues, especially some aspects which could still occur again.

Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia^[8] are the only American states where school bus stop laws are similarly applied to church buses if equipped with flashing red lights used on school buses, and operated in compliance with school bus laws. Other states may have vehicles marked church buses, but they have no church bus stop laws similar to school bus stop laws.

Pollution

Generally, a school bus is a pollution-reducing alternative to individual parents driving children to and from school, even when carpooling is taken into consideration. The use of a single school bus can take as many as fifty private cars off the road. However, buses are not a pollution-free alternative, like biking or walking. Since most school buses burn diesel, the amount of pollution emitted has been a concern for some people. Many school buses sit at idle while waiting for passengers at a pickup stop or school. Most are also sitting at idle while children are on- and off-loaded.

The exposure of young children and teenagers to large amounts of diesel fumes daily for a long period of time (over ten years) has led to clean diesel requirements for new school buses in some places. However, some school district fleets include a few school buses which are over 30 years old.^{[citation needed]}

As a result, diesel electric hybrid, compressed natural gas, and hydrogen powered school buses have been developed. Some buses have been retrofitted with emission control technologies and particulate matter filters, while others are being replaced.

Fuel Costs

The rise in fuel costs after Hurricane Katrina resulted in many school boards running deficits.^{[citation needed]} Fuel costs are the largest variable in a school board's budget, and are now also their greatest concern.^{[citation needed]}

As a result, many school districts are looking to purchase diesel electric hybrid buses.^{[citation needed]} Regenerative braking on these buses also reduces the number of brake replacements and labor costs of maintenance.^{[citation needed]}

Diesel Electric Hybrids

IC Corporation, in collaboration with Enova Systems, unveiled the nation's first hybrid school bus in 2006 at the New York Association of Pupil Transportation (NYAPT) Show. The hybrid school bus is expected to attain a 40 percent increase in fuel efficiency, which becomes even more essential with the rising fuel costs affecting many school districts. Lower maintenance costs are also expected.

Eleven states have joined together for an exploratory purchase of 19 school buses from IC Corporation. New York, California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa and Washington will be the first states in the nation to receive these diesel electric hybrid school buses.

Currently, 16 of the buses are fully funded and International Truck and Engine Corporation has started production on the ordered buses for delivery in late spring 2007.

Hydrogen school buses

Buses and school buses were one of the first vehicles to be converted to run on hydrogen.^{[citation needed]} This is because they could pack a big engine, and most hydrogen engines (which are not so big) need a lot of storage space for the hydrogen itself. Nowadays more and more school buses are transformed to run on this alternate fuel.^{[citation needed]}

Due to the size of a school bus, a more powerful engine is needed, providing between 185 to 275 hp (140 to 205 kW).^{[citation needed]} This is of particular concern when using engines running on alternative energy, such as hydrogen or compressed air.^{[citation needed]}

School busing for racial purposes

Main article: Desegregation busing

During the era of segregation in the United States, school buses were often used to transport Black students to all-black schools, which were often further away from their homes than other public schools designated for white students. Sometimes, these were in only one or two locations within an entire county or other school district.

After the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that school and other segregation was an unconstitutional violation of rights granted to all citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment, some districts either voluntarily or by court order introduced new pupil assignment plans to promote racial desegregation. School districts in such situations were spread across virtually the entire United States, including those of many cities such as Los Angeles, California, Boston, Massachusetts, Wichita, Kansas, Cleveland, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia.

The desegregation plans usually resulted in more pupils of all races assigned to schools further from their homes than before. School buses (and city transit buses in some instances) were often used to transport the students reassigned to different schools beyond a reasonable walking distance. Opponents of this concept began to decry the practice as "forced busing".

In cities such as Richmond, Virginia, when a massive program began in 1971, parents of all races complained about the long rides, hardships with transportation for extra-curricular activities, and the separation of siblings when elementary schools at opposite sides of the city were "paired," (i.e. splitting lower and upper elementary grades into separate schools).

In an effort to satisfy parents concerned about mandated long bus rides, many districts such as Richmond later modified their pupil placement plans to provide attractive programs in "magnet schools", and built new school buildings and reconfigured older buildings to develop logistically more favorable attendance plans which met desegregation goals. Combined with changes in housing patterns, the forced busing programs were gradually eliminated as the courts nationwide released districts from orders under old lawsuits.

Today, school buses are still used in most of these districts, but this is much more due to reduced walking zones, concern for pupil safety, and a wider choice of programs and locations for many students.

Statistics

In the United States every year, approximately 440,000 public school buses travel more than 4 billion miles and daily transport 25 million children to and from schools and school-related activities. School buses account for an estimated 10 billion student trips each year.^[9] That means approximately 54% of all K-12 students in the country ride yellow school buses.^[10]

Retired school buses

When a school bus is retired from school transportation in the United States, most states have requirements that school bus lettering must be covered or removed and warning devices deactivated or removed.^{[citation needed]} At least one state prohibits non-school buses from being more than 50% yellow, reserving the color on buses for school buses only.^{[citation needed]} Regulations vary from state to state. Adversely, depending on state regulations, school buses may also retain their warning devices and lettering (for which usually just the "SCHOOL BUS roof lettering is allowed to remain) after retirement shall the new owner decide to restore it to factory-new condition.^{[citation needed]}

The large quantity of school buses retired from daily service has helped develop a wide range of uses for them. ^{[citation needed]}

Market value of a school bus

Although a new school bus commands a very high price, around $65,000-$110,000, a used school bus will oftentimes sell for far less than what was initially paid. Due to the very high depreciation of a used school bus, it is not uncommon to see used school buses sell for $500-$2500 at surplus auctions, and around $3000-$5000 on the used bus sales markets. These prices give the opportunity for an ordinary person to purchase a bus.

Passenger transport

• Many retired school buses are later sold to churches and used to transport elderly and mobility-impaired worshippers to and from church services or to transport youth groups for outings to amusement parks, picnics, and visiting other churches.^{[citation needed]}

• Some used school buses are shipped to Latin America and occasionally Africa for use as municipal transportation, transportation of migrant farmworkers, or even rededicated to pupil transport. This includes Cuba, which, in spite of the US embargo, imports them from Canada.^{[citation needed]}

• In some cases, after a school bus has been removed from regular service, it may be used as a substitute for newer buses that have broken down, or been removed from regular service for maintenance. These buses are still, in all aspects completely safe, but they usually lack the features of newer buses including air conditioning and tinted windows. After a certain amount of time has elapsed however, even substitute buses are completely retired and may be used for the aforementioned purposes.^{[citation needed]}

Special Purpose Bus

Many school districts also have started using shorter buses. These buses usually contain only 5 to 7 rows of seats, often with areas for wheelchair-dependent persons. An elevator is often included on these buses to aid in the loading of disabled students. The other students use the usual stairs up to the seating deck. Often pretty pictures and drawings are pasted to the top of these buses. These images provide visual comfort while riding.^{[citation needed]}

Each bus usually carries two drivers. One drives, while the other cares for the riders. Any student may ride these types of buses, such as persons with mental instabilities. For instance, persons with bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and schizophrenia, may ride these buses. By riding these buses instead of usual "all-persons" bus, these riders are not as prone to being bothered.^{[citation needed]}

Non-passenger use

• Retired school buses have also been converted to motor homes and recreational vehicles. Enthusiasts of this type of vehicle conversion are sometimes called Skoolies.^{[citation needed]}

• Some retired school buses also get purchased for the purpose of total restoration, back to a "factory-new" condition. The individual who purchases and then restores a school bus is known as a "school bus enthusiast." Some school bus enthusiasts also become school bus collectors, and a select few open up websites devoted to their hobby.

School bus manufacturers

1980-2000: Industry consolidation, fallen flags

In 1980, in the U.S., there were six major school bus body companies building large school buses, mostly making bodies for chassis from four truck manufacturers, joined by two coach-type school bus builders on the West Coast. With the baby boom years which swelled the ranks of school children in the past, the manufacturing industry faced serious over-capacity as companies vied and competed for lower volumes of purchases by school bus contractors, school districts, and several states which purchase their buses in quantity at the state level.

On the West Coast, Crown Coach closed its doors in Chino, California in March of 1991. The property buildings are completely gone, leaving a unwanted and very dirty piece of land. GE, who still does own the rights to Crown, can't sell it. Product rights and tooling were sold to Carpenter, and resulted in some Crown-by-Carpenter products in the 1990s. The other builder, Gillig Bros. (by then just simply known as the Gillig Corporation), dropped school bus production, but successfully developed a transit bus market to replace it, and remained in business. By mid 2000, there were only three body builders left, and a corporate consolidation of two of those with truck manufacturers reduced the model selection further.

Ward later became Amtran, and then was purchased by International Truck. They refused to sell chassis to other body manufacturers or inflated price so high that there were no options for body builders but to merge or go out of business.

Several new small bus manufacturers developed niche markets during this period. However, despite several notable attempts at revival, long-term body company industry names such as Superior, Ward, Wayne, Carpenter, and Crown-by-Carpenter all became fallen flags (in that order).

Wayne's inventory was purchased by Carpenter and some of their parts were obviously used on the Crown By Carpenter buses. A defect in the roof welds was later found on all buses manufactured after 1994. A lot of school systems were forced to retire buses early and Carpenter had been out of business for sometime leaving districts no recourse.

Current school bus manufacturers

• Blue Bird Corporation successor to Blue Bird Body Company
• Collins Bus
• Corbeil Enterprises
• IC Corporation part of Navistar and successor to International Harvester, Ward Body and AmTran.
• Midbus subsidiary of Collins Bus formed as a spin-off of Superior.
• Thomas Built Buses, Inc. successor to Perley A Thomas Car Works
• U.S. Bus Corporation

Historical school bus manufacturers

(all are now either defunct or discontinued manufacturing of school buses)

• Amtran (became part of IC Corporation)
• Carpenter Body Company
• Coach and Equipment Manufacturing
• Crown Coach Corporation
• Gillig Bros.
• Hackney Brothers Body Company
• Kenworth Truck Company (mid 1930s-1957, subsequently sold their tooling and equipment to Gillig)
• Liberty Bus
• Superior Coach Company
• Ward Body Company
• Wayne Corporation - (was successor to Wayne Works)
• Wayne Wheeled Vehicles - see notes under Wayne Corporation

Models

Note: this is a very partial and incomplete listing of some models of school buses in the United States, either current, or former.

• Crown Supercoach. First high capacity transit style school bus. Produced with various changes from 1932 until 1991.
• Crown SuperII. An ill-fated design update to the original SuperCoach. Inspired in part by the initial success of the Phantom school bus by Gillig.
• Ford Motor Company B700 standard bus (former)
• Ford Motor Company E350, E450 minibus (Econoline)
• Gillig Bros. Transit Coach, available in a wide variety of specifications and configurations. Produced from the early 1940s-1981.
• Gillig Phantom. 78 and 84 passenger varieties of the Gillig Phantom school bus (a school bus configuration of the Phantom transit bus. Produced from 1986-1993)
• Girardin Minibus on Ford, GM Chassis
• IC Corporation CE, RE, FE, BE
• Kenworth/Pacific School Coach. Offered in conventional and transit models from the early 1940s to 1957.
• International Corporation 3300
• Wayne Corporation Lifeguard (former)
• Wayne Corporation Lifestar (GM S7 chassis, former)
• Wayne Corporation Busette (former)
• Wayne Corporation Transette (former)
• Blue Bird Corporation TC-2000 (former)
• Blue Bird Corporation Micro Bird with Ford or GM Chassis
• Blue Bird Corporation Vision
• Blue Bird Corporation All-American RE and FE
• Blue Bird Corporation Fort-Valley
• Thomas Built Buses, Inc. Saf-T-Liner C2, HDX, EF, FS-65, Minotour on Ford or GM Chassis

United Kingdom

Most UK school buses are ordinary buses and the only modification is the fitting of seat belts. The buses are not necessarily yellow and can be used for other purposes when not in use for school journeys. US-made yellow school buses are beginning to be introduced [3] but this move is not universally popular. Some British people regard it as an inefficient use of resources and an example of exaggerated risk perception.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• A long-wheelbase orange Commer School Bus is seen in Mad Max 2. It had armoured plates along one side of it and was used as a rolling 'Fortress Gate', although the inside was a kind of camp office. Later, the survivors escape in this vehicle as the biker gangs chase decoy vehicles in the wrong direction.

• A Short Bus features as a mobile lab in the movie Twister. Titled "Barn Burner", it is painted an almost-military dun colour, and appears to have no difficulty keeping up with the speeding 4X4 vehicles chasing a tornado.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Bus
• Navistar International Corporation
• Laidlaw
• driver visibility

Gallery

1978 Crown Supercoach #25	Restored 1961 Thomas International school bus	United States school bus.	Chevrolet/Bluebird bus in Hampton, Virginia.
Back end of a Blue Bird bus in Hampton, Virginia.	A retired 1955 Kenworth T-126 Pacific SchoolCoach in Washington State.	2001 Carpenter Classic model.	A Ulsterbus Leyland Tiger

Notes

External links

• The Atlantic School Bus Yard - School Bus Photographs
• National Association for Student Transportation
• Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for school buses
• U.S, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
• School Bus Fleet magazine official website
• National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services
• Purdue Short Bus
• Green Bay Packer Tailgate Short Bus

Types of buses
Articulated bus – Double-decker bus - Dual-mode bus – Guided bus – Gyrobus – Low-floor bus – Midibus – Minibus Motorcoach – Party bus – School bus - Transit bus – Trolleybus

Donate to Wikimedia