School Bus Fleet, February 2015
32 SCHOOL B U S F L E E T F E B R UARY 2 0 1 5 visit www besi inc com or call 800 543 8222 increased 44 in 2014 compared to 2013 That was the third year in a row that sales increased after five years of declining sales Reed notes that the recent increase in sales points more to a need to replace old buses than to an improvement in the funding situation for school districts I dont think weve seen anything that would indicate that funding has gotten any better Reed says Theres a lot of pent up demand Fleets are looking at the cost to maintain old buses vs new They need to replace those old buses For 2015 Reed says that IC Bus expects school bus sales to be flat compared to 2014 We dont see anything that tells us funding will drastically change she says We could see a bump in sales again this year but at this time we dont expect anything significant thomas mcmahon@ bobit com While this was Reeds first trip to the NAPT Summit her experience with the bus industry runs much further back than her current role at IC Bus Reed is a 25 year veteran of Navistar the parent company of IC Bus Her prior positions include president of Navistars UpTime Parts where she was credited with driving improved customer satisfaction and nearly double digit sales growth Reed has also served in various roles including vice president of business operations at Navistar Financial Corp It was at Navistar Financial that Reed first began working with the school bus industry particularly in leasing options for school districts and contractors Most of my roles at Navistar Financial were interfacing with dealers and customers and school bus customers and dealers were a big part of that Reed says During her tenure at UpTime Parts Reed launched a one stop shop parts program for mostly national accounts including some large school bus contractors Now Reed says she is excited to be playing a more direct role in the school bus industry Its a fantastic industry to be a part of she says Its an important mission to get kids to and from school every day Its just thrilling to be 100 involved in that Sales indicators School Bus Fleets research found that school bus sales in North America specifically the U S and Canada IC BUS TRISH REED IC Bus CE Series school bus pictured will be available in a propane version in time for the 2015 16 school year Reed points to the propane models diesel like performance as a key feature
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