HEADLINES
LEDs Becoming a Clearer Choice for School Buses
By Ryan Gray Tree years ago, light-emitting diodes, or
LEDs, cost roughly three times more than incandescent and halogen bulbs in and on school buses. But LEDs offer increased luminosity over traditional bulbs, and in- creased demand for this improved safety is driving the price down. Student transport- ers nationwide are taking notice. “I would say that the LED market overall is
growing, and that has to do with the cost of LEDs,” said Mike Gaborcik, the business and specialty vehicle OEM account manager at Weldon Technologies, Inc. “As technology comes in the market place, it gets revived, and costs are coming down. Really where we’re seeing the biggest reductions with LEDs is on the white side of the lights.” White LEDs, used primarily as back-up
lamps, interior domes and the like, have traditionally been the most expensive for companies like Weldon to manufacture. Unlike red or amber LEDs, two colors are necessary to make white, those being pur- ple or blue and yellow, Gaborcik added. Another reason could have something
to do with touch screens on smart phones that utilize Surface Mount Diodes, or SMDs, a metallic diode that is directly soldered onto a small pad on the circuit board. Most conventional diodes have two wires with which to connect them to a circuit board. A surface-mounted diode has no such wires. Brandon Billingsley is president and CEO
of Heavy Duty Parts, which is bringing to the school bus market LED lighting that re- lies on this Surface Mount Technology. He said the result is a lower-profile lamp that
Read this month’s Web Exclusive to learn more about the origins of Surface Mount Technology for LEDs and how they might benefit school busing. Visit
www.stnonline.com for more.
uses fewer components. Tat’s big for the school bus application, where everything from the vibration of driving down the road to far-reaching tree branches can crack bulbs. Billingsley added that the expense of replacing those fixtures can quickly eat into a district’s maintenance budget, both in terms of product costs and those associ- ated with employee time. Overall, states are taking notice of the
decrease in price as well as the safety en- hancements. Tirty-one state directors of student transportation services responded to an STN survey conducted last month, and 18 said LEDs are included in state school bus specs. Of those states, 10 responded that LED lighting is optional equipment, while eight said it is required. One of those that requires LEDs is
North Carolina, which recently ordered new Tomas Built Buses equipped with the lighting. A company representative said Tomas has seen a general upward trend toward accepting the technology. Meanwhile, Weldon’s Gaborcik said a
pilot study is under way in Ohio to equip school buses in several school districts with auxiliary LEDs at the front and rear of school buses to gauge if the lights bring more awareness to motorists who might other- wise illegally pass the vehicles. Pete
Japikse, state director of pupil
transportation at the Ohio Department of Education, said the additional red and white flashing warning LED lights are now ap- proved for districts. Tey are wired into the red student warning lights and are automat- ically flash when the stop arm is activated. Cost was still cited as a consideration dur-
ing Oklahoma’s recent specification of LEDs on all new bus purchases but ultimately lost out to brighter luminosity and longer life — and because users of LEDs swear by them. “No transportation director that has purchased a total LED bus will go back to
32 School Transportation News Magazine July 2012
A comparison of LED lighting that uses Surface Mount Technology (left) and a traditional, larger LED school bus lamp.
anything else,” said Trent Gibson, state direc- tor of student transportation and transfers at the Oklahoma Department of Education. “Every one of them talks first about how much of a difference they make regarding making their buses visible to drivers.” Gibson even saw the difference for him-
self, as he personally compared a new bus with LEDs head to head with an older bus. Te difference was night and day. Te increased cost can still make some
squeamish. Gibson said his own research found that the loading lights were the most expensive to replace at more than $200 dollars each, or $800 more per bus. Manu- facturers we spoke to for this article said that such an added cost is relatively small when compared to the total price of a new $100,000 school bus. Heavy Duty Bus Parts’ Billingsley said school districts can pay just as much in shop time to have mechanics replace faster- burning halogens and incandescent. In Oklahoma, the decision ultimately
came down to safety. “I was totally skeptical that any light
would be worth it until I figured out how many more people will notice that light over a conventional light over the lifetime of the bus,” he added. “Tey will not fade like con- ventional lights. So many times, when lights are flashing on buses that I encounter, you can’t tell whether they are amber or red.” ■
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