PUBLISHER’S CORNER It’s Fall Conference Time! WRITTEN BY TONY CORPIN |
TONY@STNONLINE.COM I
was in Atlanta a lot recently as the city hosted the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show and the International American Public Transportation Association (APTA) EXPO.
Both events were held within a few weeks of each other but drew completely different audiences. Te NAVC Show had a more trucking industry feel to it, while the International APTA EXPO was more focused towards the transit bus industry. Both conferences had thousands of attendees from
all over the globe. In addition, they both had enormous trade shows with hundreds of vendor companies display- ing a full line-up of products and services at the Georgia World Congress Center. Te NACV Show offered a glimpse of yellow school
buses from both IC Bus and Tomas Built Buses within their massive parent company booths of Navistar and Daimler. Navistar made a few exciting announcements. One was the electrification of their trucks along with part- ner Volkswagen Truck & Bus by late 2019 or early 2020. I see this industry eventually moving in the direction of electrified school buses, especially considering announce- ments already made this year by Blue Bird and Cummins, Inc. One could surmise that IC Bus is also on this path. Te second Navistar announcement was on the
new OnComand Connection Live Action Plans that provide predictive analytics to identify parts failures before they happen. Meanwhile, Daimler displayed the Tomas Saf-T- Liner C2 with the new Detroit Diesel (DD5) engine. It was cool, so I had to take some pictures. You can find those on our website. Cummins Engine and Eaton made another big announcement at the NACV Show as the companies created a new joint venture that could lead to new growth possibilities for both brands. Eaton also shared that its Procision Dual-Clutch Automatic Transmission is challenging the status quo in the school bus industry and that customers are doing side-by-side comparisons to see the value this product offers. Whenever I attend non-school bus industry confer- ences people always ask: Why is a school bus guy here? I respond: “I want to see all the new products, trends
58 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2017
and to network with people. Makes sense, right? I think that we can take a lot away from other associations and events like these to better ourselves as an industry. I personally feel inspired to grow and raise my game to another level. It’s an honor and privilege to be a part of such events like the NACV Show and International APTA EXPO. Education and training is a key component at confer-
ences. So, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao at the APTA EXPO. “Safety is the top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration,” said Chao. I think safety is paramount in the school bus industry, too. Wouldn’t you agree? One safety product at APTA that particularly caught
my eye was object detection technology displayed at the Safe Fleet booth. I watched a demonstration of how the software identified living objects, therefore alerting the driver or preventing the school bus from moving until it was safe to do so. While still in testing, this technology promises a near-zero, false-positive alert for object iden- tification. Representatives shared that the technology is still in development but it would make for a compelling discussion for loading and unload zone safety. Before heading home, I made a point to stop by Blue
Bird headquarters in Fort Valley, Georgia. I hitched a ride on the new Blue Bird All Electric school bus and was impressed at both how quiet it is and how well it accelerates. Conference attendees this month in Colum- bus, Ohio will be in for a real treat if they participate in the company’s ride and drive event. I hope to see many of you there. Be sure to also stop
by our networking party hosted in conjunction with NASDPTS Conference on Nov. 6 and say hello.
Tony Corpin, Publisher
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