School Bus Fleet, October 2017

School Buses Rescue Residents in Hurricane Amid the devastation and heartache of Hurricane Harvey one of the signs of hope and heroism was the yellow school bus In the Houston area and elsewhere as schools were shut down in late August and early September school buses and drivers served in storm relief eforts In some cases they plowed through floodwaters to rescue residents and they transported food and supplies to storm shelters One of the southeastern Texas school bus operations that pitched in to help was New Caney Independent School District ISD The districts buses and staff evacuated more than 1000 adults and children along with their pets Josh Rice director of transportation and fleet services for New Caney ISD said that many of the evacuees had physical disabilities and were in wheelchairs That included residents of a local nursing home With a shortage of wheelchair buses we were transferring people from their wheelchair to a bus seat in order to get them out of flooded areas Rice told us New Caney ISD also assisted in evacuations in nearby Humble shown above when Humble ISD buses couldnt access much of the northern part of their district Still Humble ISD buses and staff covered other ground transporting evacuees and donations to local shelters A photo posted by Humble ISD on Twitter shows two of the districts drivers Tiffany Acton and Daniel Laughlin ready to take a busload of food and donations to displaced residents These are just a few examples of pupil transporters in Texas stepping up to provide critical aid in and after the storm Read more on pg 6 Another way to help with the hurricane relief efforts is to make a donation For example Daimler AGs U S based subsidiaries including Thomas Built Buses parent company Daimler Trucks North America donated 1 million to the American Red Cross The funds were to be used for disaster relief emergency assistance and other services needed by the victims of the hurricane The need for relief is overwhelmingly great Meteorology expert Dr Joel Myers president of AccuWeather predicted on Aug 30 that the toll of Hurricane Harvey would amount to 190 billion making it the costliest weather disaster in U S history The disaster continues and the extent of human suffering will only increase as floodwaters and lack of electricity and basic services puts Houston into third world like conditions for days or weeks to come Myers said in a statement If youre interested in donating or volunteering for Hurricane Harvey recovery eforts here are a few of the organizations that are helping out American Red Cross www redcross org United Way www unitedway org Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund via Greater Houston Community Foundation ghcf org hurricane relief Feeding Texas www feedingtexas org Meanwhile as one of our online readers pointed out this is a good time for all transportation directors to ensure that your operations are included in school district and community emergency plans Whether its a natural disaster or some other crisis you never know when your school buses might need to come to the rescue THE LAST WORD By James Blue General Manager Publisher Whether its a natural disaster or some other crisis you never know when your school buses might need to come to the rescue 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 60 SCHOOL BUS FLEET OCTOBER 2017 WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM