Left: A refurbished Messalonskee, Maine, school bus dries in the paint booth at the Maine Military Authority, which offers a state-approved program for school districts. Below: The school bus is ready for final assembly of bumpers and lights and the application of final fluid film under coating. Tim McCabe, director of business development at the Maine Military Authority, said an under coat is essential to long-term corrosion resistance.
Photos courtesy of the Maine Military Authority.
includes alternators and starters, differen- tials, suspension and brakes, rotors, geared hubs, fuel pumps, transfers, spindles, cool- ant systems and fuel tanks. Te bus is then blasted, primed, painted
and under coated with the same seeping fluid film used on military vehicles. Te waxy, greasy solution works its way into all types of crevices to prevent corrosion. Te Authority will also re-apply the un- dercoating every two years free of charge. “Anything (school districts) don’t feel
comfortable doing themselves,” McCabe said, adding that another seven to 10 years can be added to the life of any refurb. Te entire process can takes about two
to three weeks. Once the repairs and in- stallations are made, each bus undergoes a 20-mile road test and a second thorough inspection by the Highway Patrol to ensure safety and performance. Te Authority then logs onto the statewide Transfinder
program to verify that the vehicle in ques- tion is certified, which can later be audited by the Maine Department of Education. McCabe said the Authority can handle
eight to 10 refurbish projects a month, and it recently opened a new undercoating facility. “Besides the refurbishing, what we really
do is enable the district to complement and manage its fleet for less money,” he added. McCabe said refurbished buses can
never replace brand-new buses, but for schools with little money, the service of- fered in Maine is the next best thing. It’s something student transporters in Texas have taken advantage of for decades.
Everything’s Big in Texas Since 1972, the Ellis Bus Repair Facility in
Huntsville, Texas, has utilized trained, in- mate labor free of charge through Texas Correctional
director of transportation at Spring Inde- Industries. Brian Weisinger,
pendent School District, said school districts can certainly save a lot of money by refur- bishing school buses but must do so with an eye on increasing safety. For example, Ellis Bus Repair will install new roof hatches, as the state has required two of these emer- gency exits on larger buses since 1995. Ellis Bus also will install new push-out windows and other safety equipment as needed. And like in Maine, the company re-
paints buses, installs new flooring, repairs seat covers and even purchases new engines from dealers and installs the emissions-compliant engines along with essentially anything else the bus or chassis needs. Ellis Bus regularly attends the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation trade show to display one of its refurb jobs. Customers fill out a work request that
includes the VIN, make and model, body type and engine size. Districts can select from body repairs, electrical and me-
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