SPECIAL REPORT
A New Safety Component to the Yellow School Bus: Air Purification
Written by Taylor Hannon |
taylor@stnonline.com B
esides crash testing, driver training and stu- dent behavior management, transportation directors now have another element of safety to consider when sending school buses out on
the road. Amid COVID-19, children’s health has never been more critical. What started out as 15 days in March 2020 to slow the
spread of the coronavirus instead turned into learning how to live with it. One way to do that is by ensur- ing clean and filtered air not only proliferates through classrooms but also on board school buses. Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and John Hopkins University recommending ventilation and air quality improvements inside schools, 100 percent of 69 transportation directors and supervisors responding to a recent magazine survey said they have not installed such systems on school buses. Meanwhile, 9 percent indicated they were interested in installing it. Ken Hedgecock, national sales manager for United
Safety & Survivability Corporation, explained that while student transporters are slow to adopt school bus air purification solutions such as the Active Air Purification
22 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2022
with RGF PHI Technology, there has been an uptick in interest due to the Omicron variant. He cited two ob- stacles facing pupil transportation, one of which being safety. With any new technology entering the market, he said directors need to do their research and identify a system that is reliable for their needs. “I think there’s been a well-placed concern over the
safety of these technologies,” he said. “I think it’s import- ant for pupil transportation personnel to actually do their homework. Look at the longevity of the technology. Look at the track record. Look at the testing that goes along with the technology before they make any decisions.” He added that another contributing factor is cost.
Not only the upfront cost, Hedgecock said, but also the ongoing maintenance cost and how it will impact trans- portation budgets. He added that the federal stimulus funds available have yet to be fully allocated to student transportation. “And I think the greatest concerns are not necessar-
ily the initial purchase, but the ongoing maintenance requirements. In other words, what is it going to cost them year after year to operate these technologies? How
PHOTO COURTESY OF LUMIN-AIR.
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