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STN: How was the school bus
industry different 20 years ago from what it is today? Paul: Well, today everything
is digital. In those days, the fax machine was the latest in high tech. Computerized school bus routing,
common today, was
being studied in the early 1990s. Whether or not to install seat belts in school buses was a hot issue, and for the most part, the industry opposed the idea. Tere were several hundred independent school bus contractors, and the trend to consolidation among school bus contractors was in full swing, with Laidlaw leading the way. NHTSA had issued several NPRM’s dealing with rulemaking for mirrors, wheelchair tiedowns and joint [body] strength. Tere were more school bus
manufacturers, and consolidation was about to get underway in this segment of the industry. Companies included Wayne, Carpenter, Mid Bus, Collins, Girardin, Corbeil, Ward, Tomas and Blue Bird. Te latter two, of course, were the major players in the industry. TAM, from Slovenia in
faraway Eastern Europe, was
seeking to break into the U.S. school bus market. Meanwhile, International — it was Navistar at the time — wasn’t involved as a bus body manufacturer. Te company offered chassis to all body builders and was preparing to work with Ward to offer a new, integrated forward-control bus. Ford and General Motors offered chassis for large and small school buses. Superior and Crown had recently gone out of business, but their buses were still around. So I’d say the main difference is that the structure of the industry was vastly different in 1991 than it is today.
STN: What about industry
associations? Were they very influential two decades ago? Paul: Te industry associations
were undergoing an evolution, and they weren’t particularly cooperative with each other. Tat didn’t come for about 10 years. NAPT was the largest association, followed by NSTA, the contractors association. Te state
directors
association, NASDPTS, was basically invisible. It wasn’t until the mid- 1990s that the NASDPTS Supplier
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Council was organized, and a regular stream of income came into NASDPTS. From the mid-1990s onward, the state directors became more influential in the industry.
STN: What about similarities? Has anything
remained the same? Paul: Te industry — and, in this sense, I’m referring
to the people working in school transportation — are as committed to the safety of the children they transport today as they were two and three decades ago. To me, that’s been heartwarming. Moreover, school transporters don’t always have their hand out asking for more money from some government agency. Tey pitch
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in and make do with what they have. Also, their safety record, as tabulated annually by the Kansas Department of Education yearly plus extrapolations from NHTSA fatality data, is a testament to their success. ■
Congratulations
On STN’s 20th Anniversary of providing in-depth news and information for the school transportation industry!
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