School Bus Fleet, November 2015

17 NOVEMBER 2015 SCHOOL BUS FLEET At the conclusion of that meeting Rosekind said that a task force would review the information gathered and NHTSA would then determine a plan of action by the fall As of press time for this article no new details were available on NHTSAs plan Buckling under the cost Perhaps the dominant concern about equipping school buses with three point belts is the cost that comes with them typically a premium of around 7000 to 10000 on top of the price of a full size school bus So what impact has that cost increase had on California school districts State pupil transportation director Anna Borges says that while some California districts made cuts to their regular education transportation during the late 2000s those stemmed from the economic crisis not the seat belt mandate I havent heard anyone say Were going to get out of transportation because of the lap shoulder restraints says Borges who works for the California Department of Education They just budget those things in It didnt turn out to be as costly as they thought Tim Purvis director of transportation at Poway Calif USD offers a similar assessment The three point belts were not a discussion topic that caused us to reduce service Purvis says although he acknowledges that Poway is a bit of an economic island with parents paying 575 per year for their child to ride the bus At Elk Grove USD Gayaldo says that the added cost of the three point restraints wasnt going to make or break our ability to buy new buses Economic conditions caused Elk Grove to put off bus replacement for several years but the funding situation has since improved Elk Grove which has a total fleet of 200 school buses recently bought 31 new buses at 155000 apiece including GPS and video surveillance systems Gayaldo estimates that the three point belts accounted for about 10000 of the total price per bus It was pretty negligible for us she says According to Tony Everett chief operating officer for seating supplier HSM C E White the cost of three point belt systems for school buses has decreased in the past decade Were manufacturing the product cheaper today than it was 10 years ago it is significantly cheaper Everett says We want to get the cost of the product so cheap that we take away that argument Pete Meslin director of transportation at Newport Mesa USD in Costa Mesa California says that he was initially worried about ongoing maintenance costs for the three point restraint systems parts wearing out or getting jammed and having to be replaced Fortunately that hasnt turned out to be the case he says adding that his shop only keeps two or three spare seat belt parts in stock Ridership remains priority On the other hand Meslin sees the addition of three point belts as part of a broader trend of rising costs for school buses which could have troubling side effects down the road I dont think we can keep adding safety features without recognizing that were going to lose customers he says Those customers are going to be unsafe Im thinking of the kids that dont get to ride the bus because I cant afford to buy any more buses Thomas Cohn transportation manager at Helena Mont Public Schools doesnt see seat belts as a hindrance to a quick exit one of the key concerns about adding them to school buses Helenas student riders practice unbuckling not just during twice yearly evacuation drills but every time they get off of the bus Cohns 8 year old son Kaden is one of those riders