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year and a half ago, Steve Burley replaced tail, brake and turn lamps on eight of his buses with LEDs. It was a move the director of mainte- nance, operations and transportation for San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, just outside of Santa Cruz, Calif., made to make his buses safer for his riders, even using “safety funds” to make the pur- chases. Although the replacement costs of any of the LEDs would be higher compared to switching out an old-style lamp, this hasn’t
made him second-guess his initial decision. “We haven’t lost a single LED in a cluster,” said Burley, adding that he is very satisfied with the bulbs and would insist on their inclusion in new equipment specs.
Cutting Costs by Cutting Labor Since LEDs were first introduced to the school bus industry about a decade ago,
prices have significantly dropped. Tough this hasn’t made for enough of an argument to make the “bright” idea an industry norm, it is certainly changing some minds. “I’m a big believer in the LED systems,” said Lionel Pinn, director of transportation for
Centralia (Wash.) School District. During the 2008/2009 fiscal year, Pinn spent $1,170 to replace 104 rear brake light
bulbs on only 27 school buses in his fleet, including labor. For the other 45 model-year 2003 and newer school buses, which have lifetime-warranted LED systems, there were no replacements. “If I take the total cost of replacing bulbs, including the labor hours, now you’re talk-
ing $11.26 per bulb versus $0.25 per bulb,” added Pinn. But this is old news to Brandon Billingsley, president of Heavy Duty Bus Parts. “Without a filament to break, LEDs are the perfect technology for transportation
as they are not as susceptible to the constant vibration that causes the incandes- cent lamps’ filament to break. Tis results in less downtime for replacing lights,” said Billingsley. When Augusta (Kan.) Public Schools Transportation Director Robert L. Sutton first
moved over to the school bus industry, he was already a fan of LEDs. “I was transportation supervisor at a large trucking company,” said Sutton. “We
started leasing tractor and trailers with LEDs, and I was amazed at the reduction in downtime by not having to replace bulbs all the time.”
Saving Costs, Up Front and Beyond With the costs of LED systems dropping over the last 10 years, the increase in de-
mand and production is not the only reason. Systems now use less bulbs with higher outputs compared to incandescent bulbs. And according to some, the prices could drop even further, bringing them in line with current incandescent lighting options. “LED fixtures are still priced at a premium to conventional lighting, but this higher
price could disappear within the next two years, sparking a huge market for the electricity-saving LED bulbs and LED light fixtures,” said Dan Polito, chief market- ing officer of LED manufacturer Dialight. “Consider that the cost of solid-state lighting has come down to $40 or so for an LED bulb. This is down from $80 or more a bulb just a year ago.” Polito predicted that, by 2012, the price of an LED chip appropriate for lighting could
fall to $1 from about $3 today, which would dramatically close the gap between the two lighting options. Te savings is also evident at the vehicle level. By reducing the amount of power
draw, less strain is placed on the vehicle’s electrical system, added Ronda McCullar, the lighting product line manager for Weldon.
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