Not much else fazes him, and to
say he’s a character is an understate- ment. Tat’s what happens when one almost dies more than a few times, the latter as recently as four years ago after a 25-foot fall from Middle Cathedral Rock across from El Cap. He spent 10 days in inten- sive care for that one. But for all the bumps, bruises, broken bones, punctured lungs and comas, he’s also had more than his share of fun along the way. And he’s not letting up anytime soon. One of his favorite sayings is,
“Whatever, dude,” followed by a hearty chortle. As in his response to: “Hey Don, congratulations on School Transportation News selecting you from among 105 ‘Ga- rage Star’ nominations to don this month’s cover!” “Whatever, d-u-u-de.” So how did this guy get into school buses? Just like navigating one’s way up Tempest on El Cap’s Southeast Face, it’s complicat- ed. Harder’s humble school bus beginnings were borne from, of all things, a Volkswagen Bug, back in those early Yosemite days. A native of Seattle and the son of a University of Washington business professor, Harder and his friends sought escape from their middle-class lifestyles and the Pacific Northwest winters to live life on their own terms in Yosemite, where they could conquer rock and take after climbing pioneer Jon Sal- athe, mixing the technical skills of his student Royal Robbins with the maverick audaciousness of Robbins’ nemesis Warren Harding. Along the way, Harder bought the
aforementioned VW, and that meant he also had to learn how to maintain it himself. As it’s a challenge to make a living as a mountain climber, not to mention continue living, Harder turned to the ski slopes to apply his other burgeoning craft, namely that of servicing ski lifts, resort vehicles, tour buses, snow equipment and golf carts. After more than a quarter-cen- tury on the slopes—10 years at Lake
30 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2016
Tahoe’s famous Alpine Meadows Ski Resort and another 15 at nearby Tahoe Donner Downhill Ski Ar- ea—“yellow” was something Harder generally wanted to avoid, especially when found in the snow. But it was the yellow bus that soon became his next profes- sional mountain to climb when Tahoe-Truckee came knocking. Not knowing much about school buses, he faced a steep vehicle learning curve, but his previous experience served him extremely well. For one, he was used to managing a staff of 120 at the ski resort, so it was an easy transition for him to work with just three mechanics, two service workers and far fewer vehicles. He also implemented a bus replace- ment program and started a capital replacement fund, replicating the success he had at the ski resorts. He brought technology to the district, such as Telma retarders that mount on the drivelines of vehicles to improve braking on the steep mountain slopes. Te equipment uses electromagnetic pulses to slow the drive and complement the brakes for safer operation. He also fully embraced GPS and the suite of Zonar System software solutions, including Electronic Vehicle Inspec-
tion Reporting, and GPS to track all the buses and other vehicles, perform speed checks and run path reports. He boasts of setting a geo- fence around the local McDonald’s to thwart would-be driver runs for a high-caloric meal. Harder is especially proud of the computerized maintenance program the school board allowed him to purchase. He said it has resulted in more than 10,000 closed work or- ders, and he can look up any of the district’s 38 school buses or 40 other “white fleet” vehicles and obtain maintenance history, parts, warran- ty information and more, actually allowing the district to perform statistical analysis of the fleet. “I can do amazing graphs,” said
Harder. “You can predict where maintenance is going to head, do asset tracking for depreciation. It’s pretty cool. I love that stuff.” Nanette Rondeau, Tahoe-Truck-
ee’s director of transportation, explained that district buses average more than 500,000 miles a year, and each one is on the road six to eight hours a day. She credited Harder’s forward thinking for keeping the fleet in top shape. “We maximize our fleet and the resources,” she added. “Utilizing a
Harder is known throughout his district for his people skills as much as he is for running a state-of-the- art garage.
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