Several school bus manufacturers carry large, even legacy, inventories for new and replacement parts that can be part of a district’s plans for keeping its buses in service longer. There is Blue Bird’s Advantage Parts program, IC Bus’ OnCommand Parts, Thomas Built Buses’ private label Alliance Parts, and similar programs from Collins Bus, Trans Tech Bus and Starcraft Bus. All the programs also offer or will offer some kind of online look-up for parts by make, model and year and related service bulletins and other information to assist in diagnostics for regular maintenance. See a related article in our March edition on the different options available from participating school bus manufacturers, both large and small. Visit
http://content.yudu.com/ Library/A1vxah/March2012/resources/
36.htm to read more.
Georgia is another state that has seen school districts, such as Peach County Public Schools in Fort Valley, turn to refurbishing buses as a way to extend service life. Several years ago the district refurbished its Blue Bird buses through a local dealer. Other districts in the state have performed similar projects.
new stairs and battery compartments. Te remade body can usually still operate on the original engine, but if need be, the facility can also do engine work. McCabe said the buses are first disas-
sembled with the help of certified school bus inspectors at the Maine Highway Patrol to first write a scope of work to determine the problem. Te team takes a “half-life” approach to refurbishments by gauging the level of deterioration pres- ent in the bus, no matter its age. A major culprit in Maine, as well as in other cold- weather states, is rust and corrosion from road salts and other treatment chemicals that can eat away at not only paint, but the bus body and chassis. “Powertrains, if taken care of, should
last 20 years,” said McCabe. “It’s the brine, the salt and corrosiveness that are eating away these buses exponentially.” Since then, two more Messalonskee
buses have been refurbished. Tey are back in regular route service. Lennie Goff, director of transportation
for Messalonskee, said his first priority is to purchase new buses whenever possible. He said refurbishing is not for everyone and can still be “a roll of the dice.” But with budgets so tight, he hadn’t been able to purchase a new bus since 1999, the same model-year of the four buses that were refurbished. “Why not get another 100,000 miles on
(them)?” he added. “It’s money well spent.” Te district’s long-range plan is to pur-
chase three new buses a year and refurbish another two. Within five years, Goff said he may no longer need to refurbish, depending on how the bus bodies stand up. “One of the things I’ve always preached
about with school buses, for a lot of peo- ple the only interaction with the district is with those school buses,” he said. “A lot is determined by how those buses look. Per-
54 School Transportation News Magazine June 2012
ception is a big piece of it. I want my fleet looking good. “ State
Education Commissioner
Ste-
phen Bowen even told Goff last year that, if he didn’t know better, he would have thought the refurbished 1999 school bus- es were brand new.
The Maine Process Once a bus is delivered to the facil-
ity, McCabe explained that the body is separated from the chassis to undergo a complete cleaning and inspection to determine any and all structural issues. Tis can result in installing new batter- ies and boxes, overhauling powertrains and wiring electrical, cleaning rear-wheel wells, replacing seat covers and installing anything from school bus
surveillance
systems and child restraint systems to wheelchair lifts. Other services include an “extensive component rebuild,” which
Photos courtesy of Jeff Flatt.
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