www.stnonline.com 33
those providing service for students with special needs,” he added. “Several people are planning to implement these concepts back in their districts.” Other workshops shared the latest information on: new and revised
standards for wheelchairs used in school buses; keeping adequate main- tenance records; a panel on retrofit technologies available for school buses; standardizing school bus specifications; TSA security action items for school buses; real-world experiences with seat belts; hands-on school bus evacuation training; the relationship between transportation and Safe Routes to School; and understanding McKinney-Vento Act pertain- ing to homeless students who require transportation.
FEELING THE (PRO)PANE To much fanfare at the start of the trade show on July 26, Blue Bird
pulled away a drape covering the Next-Generation, Propane-Powered Vision Type C conventional. Te bus features a liquefied propane fuel system from ROUSH CleanTech that is calibrated specifically for Ford’s three-valve, V-10 engine, a significant upgrade from the current two- valve, V8. Te result, say company officials, is increased fuel economy, horsepower, performance and torque. “Te base engine itself is our workhorse. It is best in class in terms of
torque and horsepower,” said George Weber, president of Ford component sales. “Te relationship Ford has with ROUSH is very close. Tey have access to our engineering and our intellectual property. Together we’ve been able to calibrate this engine and really turn it into the performance machine it is. Todd Mouw, vice president of sales and marketing for ROUSH CleanTech, explained that the production engine has more power and torque to start with. But the true advances come with the 104 octane propane system, which is then calibrated to the same horsepower and torque as the stan- dard engine to maximize fuel economy and efficiency. Te new offering is the latest result of a relationship between Ford,
ROUSH and Blue Bird that spans as many as eight decades. “Within Ford our heritage is obviously very important to us. But it’s not just
our own heritage, it’s the relationships we’ve built with key partners through- out our history,” he said. “Blue Bird and ROUSH are two of those key partners.” For example, Ford and ROUSH engineers have worked closely together
for several decades to integrate Ford’s powertrain in other vehicles, such as in the Blue Bird Vision. Meanwhile, Ford has partnered with Blue Bird for the past 80 years. In fact, Blue Bird No. 1 was built on a Ford Model T plat- form, and Blue Bird founder Henry Luce owned and operated a couple of Ford dealerships in Georgia before opening his school bus plant. Blue Bird No. 1 is now housed in the Henry Ford Museum in North Carolina. Weber said that the new three-valve, V-10 “workhorse” engine in the pro-
pane-powered Blue Bird Vision will also be available in the Ford F-650 truck in 2012. Te engines are already standard in millions of Ford Super Duty trucks. Phil Horlock, president and CEO of Blue Bird, said the result for the
end-user is a balance between peformance and maximized fuel economy along with increased performance, horsepower, torque and serviceabil- ity. He added that all Blue Bird dealers are being trained to maintain the
On Your 20th Anniversary! FROM ALL OF US AT
Q’STRAINT & SURE-LOK
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” -Henry Ford
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