School Bus Fleet, Factbook 2016

an increase of 43 in 2015 compared to 2014 In Canada school bus sales rose by a whopping 29 in 2015 That followed a 22 decrease in 2014 Obviously the surge in sales is good for the vendor side of the industry the school bus manufacturers as well as the component suppliers But its also a good sign for the industry as a whole because it shows that more school districts and contractors have been able to replace their older buses As for 2016 projections from our OEM sources point to another strong sales year with an estimated increase of 3 to 4 compared to 2015 Along with an increase in bus buying another trend were seeing is an influx of new technologies aimed at enhancing safety efficiency and customer service Perhaps the most notable development in 2015 was the widespread introduction of school bus tracking apps These programs offer a number of useful features the most salient of which is enabling parents to check the location of their childs bus via their smartphone or computer By keeping parents informed these apps can cut down on calls to the transportation office and they can prevent long waits for students at the bus stop especially in inclement weather if their school bus is running late More broadly these types of technological enhancements can help in ensuring that parents continue to view the yellow bus as a convenient relevant and safe service In 2011 after several years of severe economic recession school bus sales in the U S and Canada had fallen below 30000 units Now just four years later its almost astonishing to see school bus sales above 40000 units Turn to our 2015 School Bus Sales Report on pg 40 and youll see that the top chart showing the past 10 sales years forms an almost perfect V a sharp decrease followed immediately by a sharp increase In our Fact Book last year we reported projections that the 2015 school bus sales total would top 40000 units which hadnt happened since 2007 Im pleased to confirm that those projections were correct In the 2015 sales year combined U S and Canadian school bus sales rose 67 from 2014 for a total of 40190 units Here are several other noteworthy findings from our sales research this year Type C aka conventional school buses continue to make up the lions share of sales In 2015 more than two thirds 70 of the school buses sold in the U S and Canada were Type Cs see chart on pg 42 Type A small school buses accounted for 19 of the total sales in 2015 The remaining 11 of the sales were Type D or transit style school buses The breakdown by type was approximately the same in 2014 The 2015 school bus sales total for the U S and Canada 40190 is the highest mark since 2007 when the total was 40513 units Looking just at U S sales there was 6 SCHOOL BUS FLEET SCHOOL BUS FLEET ISSN 0036 6501 USPS 483 800 is published monthly except for November by Bobit Business Media 3520 Challenger Street Torrance California 90503 1640 Periodicals postage paid at Torrance California 90503 1640 and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address changes to School Bus Fleet P O Box 1068 Skokie IL 60076 8068 Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for address changes to take effect Subscription Prices United States 25 per year Canada 30 per year Foreign 75 per year Single copy price 4 Fact Book 25 Please allow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your first issue Bobit Business Media reserves the right to refuse non qualified subscriptions Please address Editorial and Advertising correspondence to the Executive Offices at 3520 Challenger Street Torrance California 90503 1640 The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without consent of Bobit Business Media All statements made although based on information believed to be reliable and accurate cannot be guaranteed and no fault or liability can be accepted for error or omission For your Information We sometimes make our subscriber information i e fax e mail or mailing address available to carefully screened organizations whose products and services may be of interest to you If you prefer not to have your information made available please write School Bus Fleet P O Box 1068 Skokie IL 60076 8068 Last year we reported projections that the 2015 school bus sales total would top 40000 units Im pleased to confirm that those projections were correct School bus sales up 4th year in a row By James Blue General Manager publishers perspective