SPECIAL REPORT
very seriously and is working on a solution to the retro- fitting issues of the anti-pinch. Without funding from the state, I believe that a large portion of the entire bus fleet in Maine will be out of service and off the road.” Andrew Wiseman, sales engineer at anti-pinch sen-
sors manufacturer Mayser USA, said his company is working with Maine very closely on the potential retrofit. Based on conversations, he said there are 2,000 to 3,000 school buses statewide that would require an- ti-pinch doors. “We have our partnership with Blue Bird, so we will be working on an aftermarket kit with them in the near future,” he said, adding there are also ongoing discussions with IC Bus and Thomas dealers in Maine on retrofit solutions. “One of our big unknowns is some of the older buses do not have the necessary [electronic] logic to process an anti-pinch sensor’s signal, so we are also providing a control unit that can be mounted above the door and wired into the main control system, but we are still determining how many of these vehicles need control units at this time.” He said it would be ideal for Mayser to work with the
dealers on the best or recommended installation, and then the bus dealer can disperse this knowledge to school district mechanics on how to install the technology. Wiseman noted that Mayser’s solution for the Maine
retrofit costs around several hundreds of dollars per door, if a control unit is required, with the price being reduced further if the control unit can be omitted. For serial production on new vehicles, the price is “even more affordable for school districts” to implement. The exact time it takes to perform an installation is
still in question. “Putting the actual rubber profiles on the doors is easy and takes only a few minutes,” he said. “The difficult part of installation will be the wiring, as a wire will need to be routed from the door blades, into the compartment above the door, wired into a control unit, and then wired into the rest of the vehicle. Our current estimates are that this will take one- to- two hours per vehicle, but this is a rough estimate. Hopefully, we will gain this knowledge soon when we are testing our solu- tions with the manufacturers.” ●
22 School Transportation News • APRIL 2026
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