School Bus Fleet, October 2015

54 SCHOOL BUS FLEET OCTOBER 2015 business watch Indiana district buys 3 propane school buses Three new school buses fueled by propane autogas will be in operation for the 2015 16 school year in the DeKalb County Central United School District The Indiana district replaced 12 year old diesel buses with new Blue Bird Propane Vision buses In a time of diminishing resources we strive to be as innovative and energy efficient as possible Superintendent Dr Sherry Grate said After researching the data regarding the incorporation of propane autogas fueled school buses into our fleet a very deliberate decision was made to pursue this opportunity The district purchased the Type C school buses from MacAllister Transportation Indianas Blue Bird dealer Each bus is equipped with a ROUSH CleanTech propane autogas fuel system Durham sales team raises over 14K for Special Olympics Durham School Services was recognized as the top corporate sales team for the Special Olympics Windy City Rubber Ducky Derby for the seventh year having sold 3312 ducks and raised 14094 to benefit the athletes of Special Olympics Illinois To further encourage duck adoptions for the Windy City Rubber Ducky Derby Durham held an employee fundraising event in July as part of its annual drive to support Special Olympics The event had guest speaker Nick Lorenz the 2015 Duck Derby Ambassador a Baggo tournament and the chance for employees to send senior executives into a dunk tank with the adoption of a duck Collins Bus Corp has delivered the first four production units of its new NEXBUS compressed natural gas CNG Type A school bus The inaugural units went to Lower Merion School District in Ardmore Pennsylvania The district has more than half of its 117 vehicle fleet running on CNG Collins is a subsidiary of Allied Specialty Vehicles ASV The Collins NEXBUS CNG model demonstrates ASVs commitment to meeting customer demands for environmentally friendly vehicles powered by clean alternative fuel systems that reduce carbon emissions said John Walsh vice president of sales for ASV Bus The four NEXBUS CNG models purchased through Wolfington Body Co are built on a Ford E 450 cutaway truck chassis equipped with a gaseous engine prep package They feature the CNG Westport WiNG Power System a dedicated natural gas fuel system for light duty vehicles certified under the Ford Quality Vehicle Modifier program In a little more than one year since Bobbys Truck and Bus Repair became the exclusive dealer for Lion Bus in Ohio Bobby Sears and his wife and partner Kellie have sold the manufacturers Lion 360 buses to several school districts across the state Bedford City Schools was the first district to purchase three Lion 360s Meanwhile Marion City Schools and Fremont City Schools received two of the buses in August selecting the 42 inch seat option Vanguard Sentinel Career and Technology Centers also ordered one Lion 360 bus This year Lion Bus introduced a special needs version of the Lion 360 which features additional width and headroom and utilizes the BraunAbility Century 2 vehicle lift Huber Heights City Schools ordered one of the special needs buses and several additional Lion 360 units Collins makes 1st delivery of its CNG Type A school bus Lion increases school bus sales in Ohio The first four production units of Collins compressed natural gas NEXBUS went to Pennsylvanias Lower Merion School District Lion Bus launched a wheelchair accessible version of its Lion 360 Here Bobby Sears of Bobbys Truck and Bus Repair demonstrates the lift on a unit bought by Huber Heights City Schools A subsidiary of Navistar Financial Corp recently closed a 250 million two year dealer floor plan transaction to support International Truck and IC Bus dealer inventory funding The transaction will replace a 250 million deal from October 2013 that matured in September 2015 after which Navistar Financial will have about 1 billion in total wholesale funding capacity The new transaction ensures adequate liquidity to support the companys wholesale portfolio said Bill McMenamin president of Navistar Financial We continue to access diversified and competitive funding sources as the quality of our asset portfolio and the strength of our dealer network has earned the ongoing confidence and support of our investors 250M deal to bolster IC Bus dealer inventory