A well-designed pupil transportation website should be easy to navigate, contain information pertinent to its users and be updated regularly.

This condition is a birth defect that involves incomplete development of the spinal cord, often resulting in paralysis of a student’s lower extremities. Many with spina bifida will be totally dependent on the bus staff, so a well thought out evacuation plan is critical. Part 4 of this series also covers spinal cord injuries.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still think the ideal is to talk face to face. The upcoming Annual Summit of the National Association for Pupil Transportation is one of the best ways to make connections and talk face to face with school bus industry peers.

Here we were, nearly a decade and a half after I last descended the steps of her bus, both in jobs that led us to this same pupil transportation conference.

The president of Huntington Coach Corp. in New York has a passion for saving money for school districts and for increasing the role of contractors in pupil transportation.

When selecting tires for a school bus, it is essential to consider how those tires will cope with harsh weather and road conditions, as well as frequent starts and stops.

Chicago Public Schools’ Bureau of Student Transportation Services is developing a request for proposal to upgrade the system. Officials say that the system’s components will be integrated in four phases, with the end product incorporating all of the bureau’s business and routing functions, as well as GPS capabilities.

From key performance indicators to school redistricting to stop-arm violation tracking, there are many ways to benefit from the information in a computerized routing program.

Bus companies and school district transportation departments are making $50,000 to more than $2 million through such efforts as inter-district service, school bus ridership fees and bus advertising. Here, officials discuss the specifics of these programs and other work that brings in extra money.

Suppliers of light-emitting diode (LED) systems say they provide greater longevity, visibility and efficiency. Here, we provide details on some of the latest LED units for school buses.

A year ago, Jeff Walker became transportation director at Litchfield Elementary School District #79 in Phoenix. The department has since cut costs, reduced the number of student disciplinary incidents on its buses and improved its safety record.

Any drivers who are worried about being photographed and fined, whether at a traffic light or next to a school bus, should shift their focus to following the laws.

The association discusses steps that it has taken and continues to take to reduce the incidence of bullying on board school buses. These efforts include partnering with the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools to make available free professional training for the school bus industry to encourage positive interventions.

Pupil transporters discuss practices they have established toward this effort, such as assigned seating. They also address the importance of creating policies on eating and drinking and transporting backpacks and instruments, as well as ways to reduce noise inside the bus.

As evidenced by the infamous Fox River Grove crash, documenting school bus route hazards is critical. Detailed, accurate route descriptions are essential, and drivers must be involved in the documenting process.

NAPT's Summit this fall in Cincinnati will offer a variety of perspectives that challenge traditional thinking and will help refine creative efforts in matters critical to your organization and the industry at large.

School buses in the U.S. safely shuttle some 24 million kids to and from school each day, but are the big, yellow vessels contributing to the education process in other ways?

Part 3 of this series focuses on spinal muscular atrophy, which is a group of inherited diseases that cause progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Knowing how to carry passengers with this condition on an evacuation device and including a nurse in training drills will help to ensure their safety.

School bus routing software can drastically reduce costs through routing optimization, and it can protect student riders by helping users identify hazardous landmarks and arrange for curbside pickup.

David Duke brings a wealth of industry experience to his new role as CEO of National Express Corp. Here, he discusses his objectives in the position, along with such timely topics as fuel prices and school district budget constraints.