100 150 200 250
30 50
0 Work orders
How do you track battery installs?
56.2% (228)
46.6% (189)
How do you store your batteries?
61.6% (157)
Dry Trickle charge
Wet
19.7% (80)
8.1% (33)
maintenance program
Online
Mark date on battery
We do not track
7.4% (30)
Other (please specify)
9.8% (25)
28.6% (73)
62 percent reported that they outsource the projects, while 22 percent performed the work in house. For the remainder of the respondents, whether or not the work was performed by the district or company staff depended on the severity of the repair and the workload already in the queue. At Crandall Independent School District, located just east of Dallas, Director of Trans- portation Scott Stewart and his staff only take care of the small repairs and contract the major ones — those totaling more than $2,000 — to local mechanics. Of all the hot button issues that our survey contributors listed, hav-
ing good preventative maintenance programs was mentioned more than any other. Performing regular maintenance and inspections is the core of Robert Sutton’s program. When the transportation di- rector for Augusta (Kan.) Public Schools USD 402 first took over the fleet, he found it was aging and needed a number of minor repairs. “To get the fleet back in shape, we out-sourced a lot of the mi-
nor repairs just because of the time factor,” wrote Sutton. Rising costs due to heightened emission standards was also
listed by a number of respondents, as well as the safety of school buses, pre-trip inspections, becoming acquainted with newer technology, and overall training. But, in the end, one transporta- tion director put it best. “All issues are important,” stated Earle Walker, transportation
director for West Harrison Community School District in Monda- min, Iowa. “Tings change from day to day. You never know what to expect when you walk through the door in the morning.”
LEDs Lighting the Way for More Fleets With more than 10 years of experience in the school bus in-
dustry, LEDs are still seeking total acceptance. Although some states like Texas require the next-generation lighting technology be used in accordance with state school bus specifications, the higher price and lack of personal experience with LEDs still have some in the industry wary of making changes. But, in the end, the 80 percent of the contributors to the recent STN survey on maintenance issues affecting technicians across the country said they have upgraded to LEDs on at least a portion of their fleet.
Still, some remain hesitant. In states where winter takes its toll
and continuously dumps fresh powder from at least December through February, LEDs have one drawback, according to more than one respondent. “Tey don’t warm up enough to melt snow in the winter,”
responded Roger Bur, systems facilities and transportation co- ordinator for Lincoln Uinta Child Development Association, a Head Start agency in Eastern Wyoming. In much of the literature boasting the benefits of LEDs, a
cooler lamp is listed as a positive. But for Bur and a handful of other survey contributors, it creates more work during the win- ter as the driver must clear off the front and rear lights before starting their runs. Fines from the Missouri State Highway Patrol are also keeping
certain school districts from making the switch to LEDs, as some respondents from the Show Me State explained what happens if a single diode burns out. “Missouri State Highway Patrol will fail a bus if just one of
the LED lights are not on. When in fact 95 to 98 percent of the lights could be working, they will still count it as a rejection,” said Forrest Owens, transportation director for Willard R-2 School located in the eastern part of the state. Fellow Missouri transportation director Richard Murry from
Louisiana R-II called the law “ridiculous,” but said it still keeps him from upgrading to the brighter and longer-lasting solution. For a majority of the respondents, LEDs are making their way
onto their buses. Forty-four percent said LEDs are installed on between 1 and 25 percent of their fleet, and a little more than 15 percent said 26 to 50 percent of their fleets are equipped. Mean- while, 9.5 percent said half to three-quarters of their buses have LEDs, and 7.9 percent indicated that 75 to 99 percent of their school buses are equipped. Only 3.9 percent have installed LEDs on every school bus. At Franklin Township (Ind.) Community Schools, LEDs are now part of the transportation department’s school bus specifications, and there are no plans to remove them. “Knowing it increases the visibility of the bus, it would be harsh to remove them from our specifications knowing we are
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