Jack of all Trades or
Master of One?
utilize SCR technology to meet 2010 EPA diesel engine regulations. And the school bus will be manufactured in a similar way to the company’s current Type A line. Tat fact gave some in the school bus industry pause because Starcraft buses are lightweight with fi- berglass roofs and rear ends and aluminum sidepanels and rubrails. “Without speculating on what Ohio will permit, I am as inter-
ested as you to see what comes of their offering, and how each state approves or disapproves of the roof material for the Star- craft/Hino product,” said Brian J. Whitta, a consultant at the Ohio Department of Education’s Pupil Transportation Office. “I suspect there will be national debate about the roofing material used, and I am confident the Ohio School Bus Construction Standards Committee will partake in discussion about the matter.” Specifically, Mike Kenney, the bus specifications writing com-
mittee chair for the 2010 National Congress on School Transpor- tation in May, said questions revolve around whether the new Starcraft Type C and its Reinforced Fiberglass Plastic roof and panels, or RFP, will pass federal side intrusion tests, which limits the amount of penetration into the school bus compartment to no more than 10 inches. Additionally, there can be no separation of the lapped panels or construction joints and no breaks, punc- tures or tears in the external panels. Starcraft uses RFP in its Type A line, a feature Wright said was
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34 School Transportation News Magazine January 2010
born from commercial dealer complaints about water leaks, an- other provision of the National School Bus Specifications and Standards manual. For example, the RFP roof is all one piece in- stalled over the steel frame and roll cage. A prototype conventional bus won’t be ready until late spring
or early summer, said Starcraft’s Wright, in time for many of the state school transportation conferences and the STN EXPO in late July. NHTSA must first perform compliance testing on the Type C as it does for all new school bus manufacturers, but as of this writing, any such testing had yet to be scheduled. Even with body certification still up in the air, and many states like Ohio go- ing above and beyond FMVSS requirements and national school bus industry guidelines, the company remains optimistic. “We’re also going to be offering a full steel roof, so it’s not go-
ing to be an issue. It would be a no-charge option,” Wright an- nounced. “Te one-piece [RFP roof] is going to be standard, and then there will be an option for the steel if the states require it.” But, Starcraft will first try to convince state school bus speci-
fiers that the one-piece roof is as safe as its all-steel cousin, some- thing that would certainly be helped along by full certification to the federal motor vehicle safety standards. Wright said the one- piece roof idea was first implemented on its commercial white buses after dealers complained about water leaks tied to the body rivets, a problem Wright said he has also heard from school bus customers. Another challenge will be convincing customers that vehicle service of the Hino chassis won’t be a problem, but Wright added that most Starcraft dealers carry Hino. “If they can meet side intrusion and rollover tests, they’ll meet
everyone else’s standards,” Kenney added. Should Starcraft be successful, the industry at least will see
its Type C options increase. “I suppose all I can say is that competition in the Type C mar- ket is good for everyone,” Ohio’s Whitta added. n
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