right to. But it also becomes quickly apparent that she’s also a very adept lis- tener. Dimmendaal considers different perspectives and admits there is much more the industry can do to become better partners with larger, national or- ganizations that take up the torch, if you will, of the importance of school busing in North America. But Dimmendaal is also a school bus
Magda Dimmendaal has led Dousman Transport Company in Wisconsin since taking ownership in 1988. As president of NSTA, she will help lead private company members as they tackle big issues in Washington, D.C., and at home.
business because there wasn’t the help. If you had a break down, you asked two kids to walk to the nearest phone and call their parents to come and find you.” How things have changed. Eager to embrace the new
ideas of up-and-coming industry leaders, Dimmendaal also brings with her the perspective, both historically and operationally, necessary to help the industry con- tinue a transformation into the latest era of financial hardships. As fuel costs continue to rise and contrac- tors continue to battle with local transit agencies on fair transportation of students amid continually shrink- ing school district budgets, it’s vital for the industry to know its roots. But, according to Dimmendaal, it’s also important to embrace new ways of thinking. “I welcome the new group because I think they come
with tremendous assets,” she said in late April, as her company, Dousman Transport based in Dousman, Wis., about 30 miles west of Milwaukee, was closed for Easter break. She specifically pointed to the proficiency with com-
puters of today’s new leaders, and their experience with GPS, an especially important tool for today’s school buses. No longer does GPS simply track the location of the bus, of course, but it also gives operators important fuel data, helps limit idling and integrates with the latest routing systems. And, GPS can take the he-said, she-said argument out of school busing, whether one is looking at the drivers’ actions or claims by parents that the bus was late — or didn’t show up at all. “I’m an old-timer, but I enjoy listening to the younger
generation talking about both the possibilities that the new technology brings to the bus industry,” she added. Dimmendaal has her own opinions, as she has every
preservationist. A sentiment echoed by most, she says the industry’s No. 1 priority, and that specifically of NSTA, is to ensure more students on school buses, though she readily admits that she alone does not alone hold the an- swer of how to accomplish that. But she pointed to ASBC’s success over the past year of not only getting Transpor- tation Secretary Ray LaHood to get on board a new NHTSA-sponsored pub- lic awareness campaign that touts the
advantages of school bus travel but of also getting La- Hood to take center stage at a “Love the Bus” event outside of Washington, D.C. in late February. “We need to somehow get the word out to parents that
students are eight times safer on the school bus,” Dim- mendaal added. “Schools are cutting back on routes but we should be adding routes because we should be getting parents off the road.” Te easiest way to do that is seemingly to push
before parents the issue of saving money at the gas pump. ASBC has said that one fully-loaded conven- tional school bus can do the job of up to 36 other vehicles each morning and afternoon. Dimmendaal added that, in reality, this figure could
be more like taking an additional 76 to 108 vehicles off the road, as many school buses operate two or three routes. Te fuel savings to parents and even teenage drivers can be enormous, not to mention the carbon footprint that could be reduced. But Dimmendaal said she thinks the NHTSA public
awareness campaign, which is set to kick off this com- ing fall, is not enough. She is committed to growing NSTA’s membership base, which has decreased over the past decade or so as increased contractor con- solidations have taken place. While still representing a large number of school buses nationwide, about a third of the national fleet, she said more member companies means increased clout in Washington, D.C., where she was preparing to head for the annual NSTA Fly-in the first week of May (See recap on page 18). And, of course, more NSTA members could equate
to an increased market share for contracting, and vice versa. Over the past several years, first as an NSTA
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