A LOOK BACK As Long as Tey Keep Making Children… WRITTEN BY BILL PAUL F
ollowing the recent STN EXPO Conference & Trade Show, I thought I would share my views about the conference — how it started, how it progressed, where it is now and where it will possibly be in the future. My first thought can best be summed up by this statement: “Our lives passed before
us as if they were a dream.” Tat quote comes from sacred literature, and is about a fellow who evidently acknowledged late in life that he had dropped the ball. His assignment was to journal happenings in the community, but he neglected to do so — until his deathbed, whereupon he scrib- bled the above comment. Metaphorically speaking, the evolution of the conference and trade show has passed before me as
a dream. When I started this conference in 1993, I envisioned a regional get-together, primarily for pupil transporters in the western states. My hope was that it would grow, but into what I confess I did not know. What I knew was this: Originally, the STN EXPO was intended to strengthen the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, better known as NASDPTS or simply as the “State Directors,” by ensuring they had financial support. As a companion endeavor, together with two key western state directors, we organized the Supplier Council, comprised of approximately 60 supplier companies, to provide financial support to NASDPTS. It was modeled after a similar supplier board I had served on while I worked as the editor and publisher of a the transit magazine called Metro. Now, 20 years later, much to my delight, NASDPTS is financially strong, and has a national
presence. In a recent conversation with Bob Riley, executive director of NASDPTS, he told me that nothing involving bus transportation at the federal level occurs without consultation with the State Directors. Moreover, they have played a critical role in the development of the EXPO. Indeed, STN’s association with the State Directors has been an outstanding example of public-private cooperation. As the years progressed, the EXPO vision expanded. It now encompasses a national and interna-
tional presence. Recently, STN acquired the Transporting Students With Disabilities Conference. We sponsored our first TSD Conference near Dallas this spring, and are planning the 2014 TSD Conference in Nashville near the Grand Old Opry. Over the past two decades that we’ve sponsored the EXPO, we’ve had district and contractor
transporters, and vendors from every state in the nation; transportation professionals from more than 125 Native American tribes in attendance; transporters from every province in Canada; and inter- national representatives from the likes of China, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Mexico, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and more. I suspect that reach is due to the advent of the digital era and our website at
stnonline.com. All these folks, upwards of 15,000 by my reckoning, have traveled to Reno, Nev., to attend the
EXPO because of a common interest: transporting children safety. Moreover, many of those who came from overseas came to learn about the American system of pupil transportation, recognized worldwide as the premier system of safe transportation for children. What does the future hold for the STN EXPO? Obviously, that remains to be seen, but as I have said many times, as long as they keep making children, pupil transportation will remain a viable profession. A clue about the future can be gleaned from the continued attendance at the EXPO from every state in the U.S., and the inquiries about school bus transportation safety that we have received from abroad. Clearly, the STN message about training in safe school transportation resonates with parents
worldwide. —
10 School Transportation News September 2013
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