School Bus Fleet, 2018 Fact Book

6 SCHOOL BUS FLEET WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM By James Blue General Manager PUBLISHERS PERSPECTIVE Like Sales Numbers School Bus Options Are on the Rise SCHOOL BUS FLEET ISSN 0036 6501 USPS 483 800 is published monthly except for May 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 3312 Northbrook IL 60065 3312 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 3312 Northbrook IL 60065 3312 If you experienced the National Association for Pupil Transportation NAPT trade show in November or if you read our coverage of it you may have come away with the sense that change is afoot in the school bus industry The biggest revelation at NAPT was that the three major large school bus manufacturers Blue Bird IC Bus and Thomas Built all unveiled new electric school buses While the extent that these and other electric models will penetrate the market remains to be seen the fact that the Big 3 are adding electricity to their powertrain offerings is significant From a competitive standpoint it positions them to go head to head with newer players in the market that are focusing on electric school buses That includes Canadian company Lion Bus which this year rebranded itself as the Lion Electric Co although it is still offering a diesel model as well as its electric eLion Speaking of newer players another shift in the industry is the increasing number of OEMs This is evidenced in the Bus Chassis Manufacturers section of our Fact Book starting on pg 49 This year the new entry is Titan Bus an Ohio based Type A school bus manufacturer that combines the experience of several industry veterans Another relative newcomer is GreenPower Motor Co located in Canada as well as California which is one of the aforementioned manufacturers that is focusing on electric buses To confirm my point about the growing field of OEMs consider this contrast Our 2018 Fact Book listings include 10 school bus body manufacturers Ten years ago only six of those companies were in the market see our 2008 Fact Book if you have a copy Thats a big increase in competition for an industry that sells around 40000 school buses a year That number brings me to my next point Another trend in the market is the ongoing rise in sales As we report on pg 34 school bus sales in the U S and Canada have grown for six years in a row The 2017 total 44389 school buses sold was up 85 from 2016 The 2017 total also surpassed the projection that we printed in this space a year ago which was an estimated 42100 units to be sold in 2017 This years tally of 44389 school buses is the highest mark for the industry in more than 10 years The previous peak was in 2006 when pre buying ahead of EPA engine emissions standards contributed to a lofty sales total of 47614 school buses The growth of the past six years followed five years of falling sales bottoming out at 29060 units in 2011 after several years of severe economic recession The market has clearly rebounded and quite remarkably has even drawn close to the 2006 peak Beyond the soaring sales were also seeing a surge of new technology and other innovations being introduced into the school bus market That was another key takeaway from the NAPT show As one example of innovation Collins exhibited its new Low Floor bus which enables students in wheelchairs to bring themselves aboard by way of a ramp As for technological developments parent notification apps school bus Wi Fi and mobile data terminals e g driver tablets are a few that are making inroads into the market Well be showcasing new technology in our January issue Stay tuned Consider this contrast Our 2018 Fact Book listings include 10 school bus body manufacturers Ten years ago only six of those companies were in the market