News Ultimately, she said, the project’s objective
SMART Tag is the premier on-bus tablet solution for student ridership management with pre/post-trip inspection, fleet GPS and e-messaging. The user-friendly rugged tablet and RFID cards help ensure students ride the correct bus, get off at the right stop and are not left on the bus. Offering guardian check for Pre-K/SPED riders, SHARS reports, and integration with your existing routing and maintenance software. Fleet visibility and student info is accessed through our secure web portals for ISDs, campuses and parents.
“SMART tag truly is a magnificent leap in student transportation… the tablet does so much it's actually unbelievable.”
is to create a replicable model to benefit other regions and serve various vehicle types. “We’re hoping, when all is said and done, to have some best practices so OEMs say, ‘If you get us 50 or 100 (orders), we’ll get them on the road,’” she said. Meanwhile, the first East Coast test of electric school bus economic viability is unfolding. Te Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources chose the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) as project administrator and four districts to participate, but only three ended up ordering electric buses. “Amherst is a rural district. Concord is a small urban district with a municipal utility and Cambridge is a suburban district that contracts out its vehicles,” VEIC Senior Consultant Bethany Whitaker said. “In al- most every case, it took longer than expected to get the bus on the road, sometimes two to three weeks, sometimes closer to eight. Tat’s been one lesson of the project.” Licensing and registering the first electric models in Massachusetts, where vehicles have auxiliary tanks to keep cabin heaters going on cold winter days, took longer than expected. And, bugs in the data collection systems of two buses had to be worked out. Still, early reviews were positive. “Drivers, students and parents like them. Reliabili- ty…fuel economy and efficiency have been good,” Whitaker said. “We’re going to be collecting data until the end of the year just on operational aspects—fuel economy and maintenance—and how that relates to diesel. Tere are a lot of studies out there. Ours is not definitive, but it is another data point.” Projects in Des Moines, Iowa, and
Josh Rice
Dir. of Transportation New Caney ISD, TX
smart-tag.net 512.686.2360
sales@smart-tag.net
Tacoma, Washington, focused on the students. In both cases, results have led to new practices. In Des Moines, it was all safety as the state’s largest school district, in conjunction with Tomas Built Buses and SynTec Seating Solutions, began test- ing three-point, lap-shoulder belts in two buses serving 12 different campuses last October. It was the state’s first such test. Transportation director Todd Liston said his team wanted to see if students would use the belts properly and could also get in and out of their seats quickly if a quick evacuation became necessary. Te district bought two new Saf-T-Liner C2s
36 School Transportation News • JULY 2017
with the S3C convertible seat equipped in all student rider positions. SynTec con- verted plain-back seats to seats with the three-point seat belts at company expense. To his surprise, Liston said the biggest beneficiary was the bus driver. “With kids, traffic lights, other vehicles, parents, the weather and everything else going on around them, if our driver can have a better day then that’s a success,” he said. “Both drivers shared with me this was their best year ever because the kids stayed in their seats and they were quieter.” He added, “One of the early comments
from our first driver was, ‘I’m definitely more focused on the road.’ Tat just nailed it. I don’t ever hope or want those seat belts to be tested in a crash, and if the driver is able to be more focused on the road and can avoid an accident, that’s even better.” Liston said all eight new school buses
ordered for the fall will come with lap-shoulder belts. One drawback: His budget usually allows for nine new vehicles per year. “Our district is com- mitted to a fleet replacement program, but because of the additional cost (of seat belts), the number of buses we can replace goes down so something is going to have to give.” Meanwhile, Tacoma Public Schools teamed with its local transit authority to offer free metro bus passes to students at two of its five high schools to help remove barriers to participation in extracurricular activities. Higher participation in such ac- tivities has been linked to better attendance and graduation rates. About 1,000 students opted for the passes, which cost the district $11 per student each month. Susan Race, director of the district’s
transportation operation, said the program was so well received that it was expanded to the remaining high schools before the 2016-2017 school year even ended. “It’s more than a pilot program at this stage,” said Race, noting the district is budgeting next year’s annual cost of $112 per student. “I think it’s going to keep increasing as people see the benefits. Pierce Transit increased routes and timing and added service hours (as part of its overall ridership program). Programs the district offers can also be more flexible, too, because kids have a way to get home.” ●
CELEBRATING25YEARS
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