Are
Refurbished School Buses the Newest Money-Saving Option?
By Art Gissendaner Cash-strapped school districts are ex-
ploring a relatively new money-saving option to stabilize their bus fleets, provid- ing the latest in a series of seismic events that by all indications will permanently al- ter the future landscape of the school bus industry. And bus dealers are reinventing themselves to maintain their competitive relevance until the tremors cease. School districts faced with dwindling
budgets and increasing enrollments are refurbishing their older buses as a third option behind buying new or used buses. Refurbishing offers greater immediate savings and breaks on safety and envi- ronmental regulations. New buses can cost from $84,000 to more than $100,000. Refurbishing can average $5,000 to about $20,000 per bus. Te savings range from thousands of dollars to millions depend- ing upon fleet size. Gwinnett County (Ga.) Schools saved
a minor windfall by refurbishing. Officials there faced replacing 390 buses at a cost of $30 million. When district officials learned of the savings involved in refurbishing buses, they pulled off an industry coup by getting the job done for $6 million — with all buses passing state and federal safety and environmental standards. Te two-year project is in its final phase and Grant Reppert, director of transportation in Gwinnett, calls the program “a smash- ing success.”
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