Reghan Mahaffey, director of transportation for Aspen Public Schools in Colorado, said there have yet to be issues with students kicking or obstructing the operation of the Webasto HFT 300 ventilation systems installed beneath bench seats. “It works better if it’s not blocked, but we’ve found that backpacks have a minimal impact on its function,” she added.
Meanwhile, Aspen Public Schools in
Colorado has been using HEPA-14 filters in its 32 buses since Thanksgiving. Director of Transportation Reghan Mahaffey said the district used about $34,000 in CARES Act funds to purchase and install the Webasto HFT 300 systems that meet CDC ventilation guidelines. Aspen students returned to in-person
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers recommendations on how to clean and disinfect facilities.
classes from hybrid learning on Oct. 26. Since the HEPA-14 systems have been installed, Mahaffey said she has seen a dramatic im- provement in not only fewer students testing positive for COVID-19 but also the onboard air quality. Webasto claims that 99.95 percent of airborne infections and contaminants are removed, resulting in up to 300 cubic meters of fresh air per hour. The system targets parti- cles of 0.3 microns or larger. “I’ve personally noticed that the cabin air
noticeable smells cleaner,” said Mahaffey, who has been driving routes due to driver outages resulting from quarantines. The HFT 300 system is noisy at 70 db,
which required Aspen to move the 8-inch by 24-inch units from directly behind driver compartments to about eight rows back, bolted underneath one of the bench seats. The district also takes advantage of a noise cancelation feature that allows each
62School Transportation News • MARCH 2021
driver to switch off the device at railroad crossings. Paul Baczewski, Webasto’s na- tional account manager, explained that the HFT 300 can also be automatically disabled when the stop-arm and eight-way loading and unloading light are activated. Mahaffey said she doesn’t anticipate need- ing to replace the filters until September. Baczewski explained that filter manufacturer Virgis mandates that the filter life is not to exceed 12 months, and Baczewski estimates filter life expectancy in a nornal school bus environment to be eight to 10 months. There are also important lessons learned
from what public transit authorities are doing with air filtration. The United Safety brand Active Air Purification Technologies with RGF UV-PHI has a long history of purifying air in many different applications, including for transit authorities and fire departments. These successes suggest that school buses may very well benefit from the same technol- ogy, according to the company. “We use a technology called ultraviolet
PHI. UV-PHI is the acronym, and PHI stands for photohydroionization,” explained Ken Hedgecock, United Safety’s national sales manager. “Basically, what we are doing is tak- ing a UV bulb, and with a catalyst around that UV bulb, we’re creating a very safe level of
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