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“We have heard from some stakeholders that they will be unable to comply with the 2018-2019 deadline to install the alert system,” Mendoza’s office said in an email to STN. “Because of the legislative deadlines involved, our office had to introduce a placeholder bill in case there is a need to amend the provisions of the original law, SB 1072. No offi- cial decision has been made with regard for a delay at this time.” Te stakeholders referred to in the statement included representatives of the California Association of School Business Officials and the California Association of School Trans- portation Officials. Tony Briscoe, a member of the Transportation Professionals Council for CASBO and the transportation director for Oxnard Unified School District, said the group conveyed their concerns about meeting the deadline to Sen. Mendoza in December. Briscoe, who ordered child check systems that had not yet arrived at this writing, said it became evident early on that there would be statewide problems in meeting the deadline. “When CHP put out the regulations, there were only two systems available and they would have to be upgraded,” Briscoe said. “So, that meant the devices would have to be manu- factured, ordered and installed. We already knew it would be a tight schedule to get all the systems installed on about 30,000 buses.” Briscoe said SB 1068 would benefit everyone. “It would give everybody the opportunity to research the best device for their opera-
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tion,” he explained. “We purchased ours and we do not have a delivery date. I am pretty sure everybody in the state is in the same situation.” School bus dealers and child reminder system installers also favor SB 1068. Todd Frans- sen, the Southern California regional manager for dealer Bus West, said school districts are lining up to make purchases, but ultimately nobody is in position to supply them with com- pliant systems because there aren’t any. “Some companies do not have the product on hand and installers must wait up to three months for delivery before they can begin installing.” Placentia-Yorba Linda’s Jimenez said he was surprised and pleased to receive notification that SB 1068 had been introduced. “I am definitely in favor of it,” he said. “It will give our district time to budget for this and make sure everything is properly installed. I know there was some lobbying done from within the school bus industry, but this is even more significant because Sen. Mendoza introduced it.”
TIME AND MONEY Time and money seem to be the biggest concerns facing the installation of the child
Josh Rice
Dir. of Transportation New Caney ISD, TX
smart-tag.net 512.686.2360
sales@smart-tag.net See Us At Booth #701 26 School Transportation News • MARCH 2018
reminder systems. In anticipation of Title 13 becoming effective, child safety system manufacturers and installers have been giving demonstrations to prospective clients on how their systems work. In some cases, they have installed prototypes in buses as pilots to test their systems. Student transporters contacted for this article said they are looking at solutions from Child Check-Mate, Zonar Systems, Synovia Solutions, Tyler Technologies and Corona Innovative Systems. Based on estimates, installation can take anywhere from eight to 10 hours depending upon bus type and size. Installers and transportation professionals agreed that, given the number of buses and the limited number of work hours in a day, there isn’t enough time to install systems on all 30,000 school buses by the start of school. Bus West’s Franssen said that besides a lack of product availability, time is the biggest obstacle. “If you do the math, there aren’t enough man hours between now and the start of the school year to install these systems,” Franssen said. “If you consider 10 hours per bus, 30,000 buses and 40 hours in a week for how many weeks? It’s not possible.” And time is money. Te cost of the systems may range from $200 to $300 per unit, but it’s the installation costs that are grabbing the attention of school districts. Tese costs are estimated to range from $650 to $2,000, again depending on bus type and size. Ron Hill, transportation director for the Sacramento City USD, said the $1,200 per bus quote he was given is not in his budget. “I know I am not the only one,” Hill said. “It will have to come from our general fund. I’ll have to go to my chief business officer.” Hill said it would cost about $198,000 to equip and install his fleet of 165 buses. “Every vehicle will be a bit different, but on average it will be about $1,200 for a 40-
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