“Definitely do not go in thinking vans are a fix to the
driver shortage for your department, and do not use vans solely because you are short drivers,” he advised. He added that vans in use should be easily seen and
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36 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2024
identified. They should clearly feature the district or company name, and the lettering should be in reflective material for night-time driving. Meanwhile, over half of the vehicles (about 900 out of 1,600) operated by contractor Suffolk Transportation Ser- vice in Bay Shore, New York, are vans. But the state refers to Type A school buses as vans because they are built on van chassis. Most are configured to handle 20 children or 12 adults, while others accommodate 28 children or 18 adults.
“They provide efficient loading to reduce routes while
fitting a good number of children on the vehicles,” said Thomas Smith, vice president of school operations and business development for Suffolk. These smaller school buses have proven effective
when transporting to out-of-district schools and serving students with special needs, as well as smaller groups of children. That includes situations requiring dedicated support such as an onboard driver assistant, or the use of equipment for wheelchair loading or other special acco- modations. Suffolk also has 10 Chevy Tahoes painted yellow to
provide special rides to individual students, such as when traveling to an unfamiliar school program. Regardless of the vehicle, aggressive training practic-
es also support safe driving, Smith said. “Besides state requirements, we’re always looking to raise the bar on safety and training,” he noted. Suffolk recently built a dedicated safety and training
center that accommodates groups of 200 or more. Herzog in Arizona also stresses the importance of training.
“When possible, we need to use buses as they are the
Portable Vacuums
safest mode of transportation,” he said. “But when that’s not possible, make sure we’re training our staff and giv- ing them the resources they need to make them the best possible drivers they can be.” Too often, he noted, training is overlooked because of time constraints. “But we owe it to our staff and students to make sure they are operating our fleet—no matter what vehicle—the best and safest way possible,” he added. Given the various factors at play, the future of vans or other smaller vehicles seems assured. “Although vans will not completely replace traditional buses in all aspects of student transportation, they do add a great deal of diversity and efficiency to your fleet,” Saunders concluded. “This unlocks greater methods and opportunities to service our students safely.” ●
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