SPECIAL REPORT
SCHOOL BUS EXHAUST
> America’s Most Complete Coverage > Original Equipment Fix > 48 Years Manufacturing School Bus Exhaust Systems > Over 2,500 School Garages Served This Year > Diesel, Gas, Conventional, Flatnose or Van--We Make Them All!
JUST IN! New School Bus
Exhaust Catalogs
AVAILABLE NOW! New Systems
New Accessories
188 Pages of Exhaust Parts Both Old & New!
Includes Many Photos and a Cross Reference!
Cont’d from p. 28 “People want a lot of money to im-
prove the image of the school bus. I don’t care how popular you make the school bus. If students aren’t eligible to ride the bus, then they cannot ride it. I’d spend all that money lobbying organizations…and requiring them to make more students eligible to ride,” said Carnahan, a consul- tant who was Washington’s state director for pupil transportation for 23 years. Carnahan said he believes the perceived
decline in ridership boils down to a policy problem, because there are more people who want to be eligible than who actually are eligible. Another question: why aren’t all currently eligible students taking ad- vantage of offered school bus service? “Some reasons are legitimate and oth-
ers are not, including convenience or lack thereof when districts are redesigning routes,” Carnahan said, adding that be- havior problems on the bus are another deterrent. “Kids can be tough on each oth- er, and sometimes things happen between groups or individuals, such as in bullying. In these cases, parents are more comfort- able taking their children to school.” School bus safety and training consul-
Muffler Manufacturing London, Ontario
Des Moines, Iowa
tant Ted Finlayson-Schueler also sees two key challenges facing today’s parents. “One is a misunderstanding that our
buses aren’t being used efficiently because taxpayer citizens see empty or semi-empty school buses driving around,” he said. “We need to publicize how efficiently we use our buses, how many trips each bus makes on a given day for regular transportation, field and activity trips, athletic trips, etc.” Managing students is the second chal-
Call for a FREE Catalog 800-247-5391
-NO VOICEMAIL-
Talk to people who know bus exhaust Email:
brandon@auto-jet.com Fax: 515-224-0727
lenge, he added. If student transporters can improve safety, then the next step is to implement new technology to better meet the needs of busy families. For example, af- ternoon bus runs may be routed based on morning ridership, the past week’s history, or card swipes as the children board. Mike Martin, NAPT’s executive direc-
Manufacturing Bus & Truck Parts Since 1969
www.auto-jet.com
tor, said ASBC’s proposal addresses safety both on and off the school bus. Tough this project is multifaceted, Martin stress- es that its primary goal is to increase the current percentage of student riders, which stands at about 50 percent, or 24 million, students one-way each school day for the 2007-2008 school year, according to the National Center for Education Sta-
32 School Transportation News Magazine June 2010
tistics. But that number has gone down over the past year due to budget cuts. “Part of the reason we have conges-
tion and air-quality problems is because once, only 12 percent of kids went to school in a car, and now it’s up to 45 per- cent,” he added. Regarding the need to revisit student
eligibility requirements, Martin noted that key information must be gathered, including the number of kids eligible who are not riding as well as what percentage are truly ineligible to ride because of their area’s minimum walking radius. Te topic of a mandatory minimum walking radius is “guaranteed” to be discussed at the upcoming National Congress on School Transportation in May, he says. “We think the Public Education Project
will really help the public understand the environment, health and safety aspects of riding the school bus,” said Martin. “Te majority of parents don’t believe children are safer on a bus compared to a passen- ger car. We want to figure out why parents don’t believe the numbers because they really are cut and dry.”
CHOOSING RESOURCES John Matthews, a former transporta-
tion director at Montgomery County Schools (Md.) with more than 35 years of experience, says he is not convinced that the ASBC’s proposed campaign is the best use of limited federal funding. “Promoting ridership has the poten-
tial of costing districts more money, not less,” said Matthews. “Instead of trying to promote ridership, what ASBC should be promoting is support for funding of school bus operations.” When Matthews oversaw a large school
district with 140,000 students, a $100-mil- lion budget and nearly 1,300 school buses, he said that his goal was to transport as few students as possible with an infrastructure in place to get them to school safely, so less resources were spent on transporting them and more on educating them. “I was a huge proponent of walking,
and I worked with Safe Routes to School. I always worried their work would conflict with us, but it actually complemented our work. Tey went into neighborhoods and approved measures to improve walking routes,” he said. ■
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60