School Bus Fleet, January 2020

2 WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM SCHOOL BUS FLEET JANUARY 2020 to not letting each other down They also embraced the idea that You dont have a strategy the first time you work on something because youre learning and figuring it out as one attendee very astutely observed They had the patience to learn and figure that out together Additionally some presenters discussed their experiences with implementing different types of technology on school buses at their districts in peer to peer learning sessions They walked attendees through equipping buses with fire suppression technology converting to new routing software piloting new stoparm technology and rolling out onboard Wi Fi from Kajeet We also cover other technological tools that were featured on the NAPT Trade Show floor on pg 42 And just weeks before the NAPT conference NASDPTS members converged upon our nations capital to discuss the latest in federal investigations and the safety recommendations that stemmed from them as well as technology that can further enhance safety Read more of our coverage of both conferences on pg 34 Morevover Trish Reed vice president and general manager of IC Bus discussed how changing demographics including more Generation Xers and Millennials moving into higher level positions is driving an increasing demand for more safety technology such as collision mitigation on school buses Meanwhile U S Sen Tammy Duckworth D IL and a former U S Army lieutenant colonel talked with attendees about the School Bus Safety Act of 2019 H R 3959 that she has co sponsored with Rep Steve Cohen TN 09 I take this approach toward technology If you plan for the worst case scenario you have the best chance of success she said To help our readers gain the best chance of success we strived to provide ample technology resources in this issue If you have any other ideas for technology for the yellow bus that you would like us to look into drop us a line at info@ schoolbusfleet com n As we head into a new year is it just me or did 2019 speed past we have an opportunity hopefully with renewed energy after a well deserved holiday break to take stock of what we learned last year and apply it for a successful 2020 Here are some oferings from SBF related to team building and technology For one we learned of some impressive technology related achievements from our 2019 Administrator of the Year John Hennessey He kicked of his career in student transportation using routing expertise he gained from his public transportation work to help a local school district that was struggling with arrival times Hennessey liked it so much that he eventually made the move to pupil transportation You can read our profile on him on pg 28 I think this success story is a case in point that technology cant solve all our problems on its own That can only happen if the people employing it are collaborating efectively as Hennessey and the public transportation agency he worked for at the time Lowell Lo Law Transit Management Inc did with the school district they were assisting There was plenty of evidence of successful teamwork in play at the National Association for Pupil Transportation Conference in Columbus Ohio in November One of the things I enjoyed most about covering that event was watching the teambuilding exercise led by the inspirational Karen Main the founder and CEO of Innovations in Training She showed how important each team members role is with each one bringing something diferent to the table Quite literally in this case Each team member in the group had specifically assigned Legos to contribute to a replica of a model building All team members had to communicate and cooperate with each other to accomplish the goal of making their replica look exactly like the model I found it really rewarding to watch attendees come together to build something and listen to group members talk about how they learned to adapt to the games rules and were committed APPLYING TECH TEAM BUILDING IN THE NEW YEAR By Nicole Schlosser Executive Editor EDITORS NOTE Technology cant solve all our problems on its own That can only happen if the people employing it are working together effectively