Technician Matthew Bunting runs diagnostics on a Fountain-Fort Carson District 8 bus. The Colorado Springs, Colorado, school district is one of many nationwide turning to technology to keep school buses on the road and save money in the transportation department budget.
or order a part as soon as we see the code to allow better uptime,” said Beaverton Shop Manager Cliff Harrell. To streamline repairs, the district uses OEM software
on its EV fleet for telematics, including OnCommand for its IC Bus models as well as Cummins PrevenTech. “Our GPS system does support telematics but it’s very
undeveloped where it only lists [suspect parameter numbers and failure mode identifiers] and not an actual OEM code,” Harrell noted. He added that some of the challenges faced in school bus maintenance include keeping up with changing items on buses and getting training on them. “Some examples of this are when traction control became a standard item with bus purchases,” he said. “We had to try to find training on it. When Cummins came out with the CM2450 engine, that now has a standard data logger on it. We had to adapt to this and see how we could utilize it.”
To mitigate those challenges when a new bus is
purchased or technology is introduced, the OEM could conduct a one- or two-day class on those items to help technicians gain a better understanding, said Harrell. The STN survey also notes most transportation
department directors would like to have virtual training for mechanics. Harrell said he sees value in a nationwide forum for school bus technicians to share knowledge with each other and to help others get through repairs with which they may be struggling. The use of diagnostic software has provided a return on
investment in many ways. “For example, we can program multiple ECMs and modules in-house instead of sending them out with an upcharge,” Harrell explained. Another benefit: The ability to examine aftertreatment
history and values to determine a preventative repair before a major repair would arise. “We have the ability to look at a repair before sending
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