Don’t let this happen to you.
Proper, regular school bus
inspections and maintenance are vital to on-road reliability and safety Written by Art Segal
H 26 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2020
ow can school districts ensure their buses will pass routine inspections? The consensus of subject-matter experts is to perform frequent self-inspections that check that every part on the bus is in working order.
They also strongly recommend that more time be spent on predictive mainte- nance. These steps ensure safer buses, fewer road breakdowns, less out-of-service time and greatly reduced maintenance costs. “Student transporters can do this by ensuring that their required daily pre-trip and post-trip inspections are done,” pointed out Fred Fakkema, vice president of compliance at Zonar Systems in Seattle. “That is a school bus manager’s best op- portunity to monitor the fleet, and to identify and address potential issues before they become critical issues that may place a bus out of service.” Zonar revolutionized school bus inspections nearly two decades ago with its
patented Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting (EVIR) system. Today, a host of OEM and after-market app solutions exist to assist student transporters with inspecting school buses, as well as diagnosing issues before they occur. Fakkema, a retired captain with the Washington State Patrol, commented on how predictive maintenance can help to improve results. “Proper inspections lead to improved compliance, and safer and better-operating
buses,” he observed. “Safety should be everyone’s number one concern when it comes to a school bus. By predicting maintenance needs, you can address issues before they become more catastrophic, which could lead to an unsafe bus.” Besides, Fakkema stressed, the “cost of a new engine, or a tow back to dispatch, is much more than predictive maintenance solutions.”
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