HEADLINES
School Bus Industry Vendors Work Together Despite Marketplace Competition
During his first visit to the National Association for Pupil Trans-
portation conference in 1983, School Transportation News Founder Bill Paul spoke with Paul Stewart, then state director of West Virginia, about an idea on how to help school bus vendors get the recognition, and funding, they deserved. While at dinner, Stewart, who has since retired and has become an NAPT Hall of Famer, mentioned his group, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, and invited Paul to attend a meeting. Paul soon found that the group was under- funded, so he asked himself, “Why can’t we build them up?” “Tese guys are very influential, and they needed more
exposure,” recalled Paul, who along with other industry rep- resentatives came up with the idea to create the Supplier Council, which has become a funding source for NASDPTS that continues to grow. But it took some time before the idea evolved into the current
Supplier Council, which was not officially established until 1994. Paul took his idea and presented to then-NASDPTS President
Don Carnahan of Washington and then-Immediate Past Presi- dent Ron Kinney of California, who also recognized the need to increase funding for the association and align the industry’s ven- dors. Carnahan had spoken about the same concept with Berna Borders, at the time a western regional sales director at Blue Bird. “I wanted the vendors and suppliers to be more actively in-
volved with the state directors,” remembered Carnahan. “Bill really did the detail work on putting together the arrangements on how it would work.” Te concept, which was based on the American Public Trans-
portation Association’s Associate Board of Governors, was for a group that would help issue position papers outlining the viewpoints of suppliers and industry representatives, provide contacts with industry organizations and associations at every level and act as a liaison with congressional committees and fed- eral regulatory agencies, something Paul said the council needs to stress more. “Vendors are very influential members when testifying before
See us at NAPT Booth #260 26 School Transportation News Magazine October 2010
Oct10_STN.indb 26 9/14/10 12:17 PM
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