INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
ASE TO PROVIDE TECHNICIAN CERTIFICATION OVERVIEW AT STN EXPO New to the STN EXPO this year will be a two-hour workshop
presented by the National Institute of Automotive Service Excel- lence (ASE) to help prepare school bus mechanics to take certi- fication tests. In addition to providing background on ASE, Walt Commans, the organization’s Western states consultant will share with attendees how the tests are developed, the benefits of being certified as an ASE school bus technician or master technician and an overview of the seven school bus certification categories. Attend- ees will also be able to win a complete set of ASE study guides. According to ASE, at this report there were 5,743 certified
school bus technicians nationwide, and another 1,958 master school bus technicians. Tese individuals have shown competence in maintaining school bus bodies, diesel engines, drive trains, brakes, suspension and steering, electrical/electronic systems, and air condi- tioning systems and controls. Commans has 40 years of experience in the maintenance in-
Technician Category S1 Body
S2 Diesel Engines S3 Drive Train S4 Brakes
S5 Suspension and Steering S6 Electrical/Electronic Systems S7 A/C System and Controls
No. of Techs Certified 3,126 3,085 3,002 4,202 3,454 3,344 1,913
dustry, 30 of those with Snap-On. For the past eight years, he has consulted with ASE to increase the knowledge of truck and bus technicians especially in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Washington state and Wyoming. For more information, visit
www.stnexpo.com.
INDUSTRY ADVOCATE BOB AUSTIN REMEMBERED FOR HIS DEDICATION
Longtime Califor- nia student trans- porter Robert “Bob”
Austin passed away on Jan. 6 after a four-year battle with cancer. He was 74. Known to friends and family as
“Dobber,” Austin began his career as the transportation director at the Antelope Valley Union High School District, where he worked from 1958 through 1980. He was the original CEO of the Antelope Valley Schools Transportation Agency in Lancaster, Calif., from 1980 to 1988. Austin worked as a pupil transpor-
tation consultant for three years before joining the California Department of Education’s Office of School Trans- portation as a bus driver instructor program specialist. He held this position for 14 years before retiring June 30, 2005. “He was a great friend and a trail-
blazer on transportation joint power agencies (JPA) in California,” said Ron Kinney, a retired California state director and now transportation consultant who originally hired Austin in 1991. “He and I said our goodbyes a few days before he passed. He will be missed.” John Green, who succeeded Kinney as
state director, recalled Austin as a “a true friend and professional” known for his sense of humor.
“He played jokes on secretaries, staff and students. He would place a critter of some kind on your desk or give you a ‘wet willie,’ but he was always there when the chips were down,” Green wrote in an online guest book. “He love(d) to dance and always enjoyed a good party. Tere was more than one conference in which the wives of the other attendees waited patiently outside the meeting room doors for Bob to come out and go dancing.” Austin was also a California delegate to the National Congress on School Transportation, a member of the Associ- ation of California School Administra- tors, a representative of the Californial Highway Patrol School Bus Advisory Committee and president of the Cali- fornia Association of School Transpor- tation Officers (CASTO) in the late 1980s. In a statement on its website, CASTO said it “lost a great mentor and pioneer of the transportation industry.” "Bob Austin led from the front, not
behind. He will be sorely missed," added Bill Paul, founder and editor emeritus of School Transportation News. Austin is survived by brother
Robert, sons Brett and Joe, daughter Melissa, and seven grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made in his name to San Diego Hospice.
34 School Transportation News March 2013
STERTIL-KONI SURVEY SHOWS SAFETY, PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE ARE TOP
PRIORITIES
Fleet operators ranked safety, controlling costs and minimizing downtime as the top three most important areas of their business in a new market research study conducted by vehicle lift provider Stertil-Koni. Te company designed its online “Fleet
Performance 2012” study, released last October, to help the fleet and transit indus- tries identify and better analyze the latest developments in the sector. Te anonymous respondents included transportation profes- sionals in commercial, municipal and military fleet-related activities. Respondents ranked the following factors
as “very important” to operations: productivity (85 percent), employee training (74 percent) and spare parts availability (70 percent). En- vironmental friendliness and energy efficiency also ranked prominently. Stertil-Koni President Jean DellAmore said the company’s research reveals that pre- ventative maintenance programs are virtually universal. “Tat’s a genuine plus in terms of vehicle
durability and safety,” he said. About 77 percent of survey respondents
report they currently use vehicle lifts in their fleet maintenance operations, with mobile column lifts the most common, followed by in-ground piston lifts, four-post lifts, two- post lifts and platform lifts.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS
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