THOUGHT LEADER
Newsflash: School Buses Are Essential That is why private equity firms want to invest in the industry
Written by Judith Crawford T
he iconic yellow school bus is a mainstay of American culture. We see them in Hollywood movies and TV shows, and you can’t help but notice them as they drive along our roads.
School buses play a crucial role in ensuring safe, efficient and community-oriented transportation for students. At almost 500,000 buses, they are the largest single fleet in North America, beating the U.S. Postal Service fleet of vans and more than twice as large as the entire motor vehicle fleet of FedEx. School buses really are a part of the fabric of our daily lives. Every time I see a school bus, I can’t help but look at the name on the side, and I love seeing new names that I have not seen before. This is a habit that, once you start doing, you can never stop! School buses are the safest form of transportation for
moving students to and from school each day. The Na- tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that
less than 1 percent of all traffic fatalities involve children on school transportation vehicles. It’s only one of the many reasons STN readers and the wider communities love our school buses. Recently we’ve seen a lot of interest in school busing
from investment firms looking into the school trans- portation business. The interest extends across different types of investment firms, from venture capital and infrastructure firms to more traditional private equity firms. (Full disclosure: Beacon Mobility is supported by a private equity firm that invests in our growth and provides funding that allows us to continually reinvest in our buses, technology and our drivers.) But what does this mean? And why are these invest-
ment firms so interested in school bus operators? In many ways, it stems from the critical—some would say “essential”—role we play. For instance, as a part of a
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