SPECIAL REPORT
commented VerStrat. “There’s nothing that competes with the performance and reliability of LEDs right now.” Kuchciak agreed and noted that First Light and industry peers are “trying to get the most out of the technology that’s available to make it as uniform, bright and efficient as possible.” He continued, “Technology is only going to continue to get more dialed in to provide a safer and more effi- cient lighting source. Constant improvements are happening in the industry. So, things are always getting better.” Kyle Lawrence, lead mechan-
ic for the Oakdale Joint Unified School District in California, said he wasn’t surprised the proposal was defeated be- cause he thinks many industry professionals still undervalue the importance of lighting and visibility. Others, he added, are locked into long-held industry beliefs.
The safety value of LEDs goes
beyond its increased visibility to include the reduced mainte- nance time that comes with its longer life. “It’s much better to have my techs spending their time on preventive maintenance that will keep the buses out of the shop. With LEDs, you’re not having a tech out there changing bulbs,” Lawrence said. He warned against the shortsightedness of saving $30
upfront on a part only to spend an extra $300 in labor over the life of a bus to change what he deemed to be inferior lighting. “Some bulbs can be quick, but some can be a drawn-
out, two- or three-hour project because you have to keep taking off a whole bumper to change a light bulb that keeps burning out,” he said. “Our roads here at rural Oakdale are horrible, so anything that wiggles and jiggles either unscrews, falls out or decides it doesn’t want to work any- more. LEDs have a much better success rate.” He also contrasted many LED lifetime warranties with those of incandescent bulbs. “Some of our after-market LED providers carry no-questions-asked warranties, so if we’ve got a seven-diode taillight that loses a couple diodes, we just take it off, put it back in the package, ship it to them, and they ship a new one,” Lawrence said. “If you play your cards right with the aftermarket industry, you’re only going to spend the money once.” Most LED chips are manufactured in Asia, primar- ily China, and imports have been caught up in the
24 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2025
on-again, off-again tariffs imposed by the Trump ad- ministration to drive manufacturing to the U.S. Industry experts contend that is little to no chance that LED chips can be made in the U.S. at a competitive price. Lawrence said LED lights are less expensive than 10
years ago, but tariffs and inflation have made them more expensive than five years ago. He said he foresees even better days ahead for the technology and the fleet management pro- fessionals who deploy it. “It takes less energy to create
If you’re not using LED, you’re shooting
yourself in the foot and walking backwards with a limp.
- Kyle Lawrence, Oakdale Joint Unified School District, Calif.
light with LEDs, and I think the diodes and chips are progres- sively getting more reliable, have longer life and brighter illumination,” he said. “If you’re not using LED, you’re shooting yourself in the foot and walking backwards with a limp.” Looking to the future, VerStrat
predicted delegates will be able to return to the drawing board and draft a “win-win” proposal on LED exterior lighting. And with incandescent bulbs being used less, will a 2030 or sooner
NCST look kindly at the next LED proposal? McDonald isn’t so sure. “It’s like the mirrors. Ninety-two percent are remote
controlled, but that proposal was defeated. We may end up with 90 percent of the buses with LEDs, but that doesn’t guarantee that the states are going to vote to make that the minimum standard,” McDonald said. “The minimum standard is the incandescent bulb. ... That’s what it is because some states don’t want to spend the extra money on LEDs.” Kuchciak said the price gap between incandescent
lighting and LEDs will become less of a factor as more buses roll off the assembly line with the newer technol- ogy. But he also warned against the dangers of being overly cautious about adopting new technology. “It’s important that we look at the NCST as a minimum standard. We’re slowing down progress by being con- cerned with it limiting things in the future,” he said. “If we have something outlined as a minimum standard, and it goes above and beyond, that is for these states to decide if that is something that they want to pursue within their state or whether the OEMs want to go above and beyond these minimum standards. We don’t want innovations to slowed just because we think something better is going to come out.” ●
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