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vabuslover
Advanced Member
United States
246 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2005 : 5:38:07 PM
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| I might know tomorrow. I'm supposed to be going with the band to the School Board Convocation for a performance tomorrow. Last year our group got one of the 2005 BB Visions. Boy was it smaller than a FE/RE! But it rode nice and quiet. Wished it was a little bigger. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 05:05:42 AM
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| I wonder what it would be like if Fairfax got Type C buses again. That would be weird.... Though I know its never going to happen. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 05:19:37 AM
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| Why did we stop buying type c buses. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 06:59:59 AM
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| Does any other county own activity buses besides loundoun. I wish virginia allowed activity buses to be yellow when the white gets worn or dirty it's ugly. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 07:34:51 AM
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| Is there a regulation regarding the color of activity buses? |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 08:07:20 AM
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| I think I saw it cannot be school bus yellow under va regulations. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 08:09:57 AM
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| Personally I would just use a yellow school bus for an activity bus. Though I would do as some districts in the U.S. have done and spec it with some luxuries. Better engine, better a/c, better seats, etc. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 08:16:25 AM
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a. School activity vehicles shall not be painted national school bus yellow. The lcps activty buses have nice seats inside and have reading lamps and like Captain seats but does't have cloth seats and occurse has gps but I think all new buses for the county have gps.
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Finance/VAPT/bbactivity.htm |
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BusFreak
Top Member
USA
798 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 08:39:53 AM
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| Nottoway High School has (or atleast used to have) a dark brown 1991ish Thomas ER activity bus, but it doesnt have AC, or activity seating. Virginia Beach City Schools also has some white activity buses, which replaced the use of vans. There is atleast one more district in southern VA which has white buses with a red and blue graphic on the side, but I forgot what district. They had conventional activity buses. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 08:47:04 AM
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| Does LCPS ever use motor coaches? |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:09:38 AM
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| yeah for one time but it was for a long trip. But a lot of times they also just use them for field trips. At monroe they took a HDX activity bus to roanoke and going on 81 for a school bus when everyone else going around 70 to 80 mph. it took them 5 hours the, teacher drove down their and it took him 3 hours. it was a skills usa competition. Monroe is like chantily academy. |
Edited by - Drew19 on 08/30/2005 09:11:01 AM |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:29:31 AM
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| Have you ever ridden one of the LCPS activity buses Drew? |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:43:51 AM
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| Yep. I like it, quite comfy. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 10:17:42 AM
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I wish Fairfax had some nice activity buses like that.
Drew, aren't you in school right now? How are you posting on the forums if your in school?
I don't have the luxury of computer access at my school. There are computers at my school, but I can't ever get to them during free time like before school or during lunch. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 10:29:59 AM
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| Im a adult student at Monroe I got every other day to school. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 12:38:08 PM
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| I wish I only went every other day. |
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poor_driver
Senior Member
162 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 3:15:13 PM
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BusFreak
Nottoway County still has their activity bus with the "activity bus" sticker in the spot where the school bus sign is and it does have A/C. I'm from around that area. I was told that they were getting another one this year. Most districts in Southside Va have activity buses.. For example:
Greensville County- used to have an GMC Bluebird painted the school's colors Green and Yellow with a big Eagle on it.
Nottoway County- as Bus Freak stated before is a thomas er or mpv painted maroon and gold.
Prince Edward- a "shorty" thomas freghtliner and a regular Thomas vista both painted Purple and
White
Halifax county- has alot of activity buses all of which are painted Blue and White
Powhatan county- has a Bluebird all american (i think. i know it's a bluebird though) that is painted Orange and White.
Not many counties are buying a specific bus for activities any more down here, i think it was just a fad in the mid eighties to mid 90s. The rest of the counties around southside VA used either the newest route buses or spare buses to run activities, for instance, i have seen chesterfield send some of their remaining thomas gmc's along way from home (that's gotta be a trustworthy bus).
anywayz just wanted to note the one thing about Nottoway but thought i'd share on some other districts. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 3:22:14 PM
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| Yeah the lcps HD's and HDX's have white and blue scheme which looks nice as long as you take care of them and all of our hdx's have ac units and cd player and activity seating. some of the IC Re's I'm guessing that are used for acitivty's only have the racks above the seats and storage compartments under the bus. |
Edited by - Drew19 on 08/30/2005 3:23:55 PM |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 3:26:47 PM
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| Here in Fairfax, we use our older buses for activity. Usually our 1988 Wayne GMC's. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 3:57:56 PM
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| I would think the 89 AA Fe's would be good because of the storage bays under the bus. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 4:05:03 PM
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| Those aren't luggage bays. None of our buses in Fairfax have luggage bays. |
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IC
Top Member
USA
3413 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 6:04:43 PM
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Hey 1629....those old activity buses are driven by teachers and coaches. Like rookie regular drivers, the County must not trust those activity drivers with a decent bus!
You know how I found out about activity buses? I took the girls field hockey tean to Madison HS one night and the parking lot was packed. Then I saw a big spot by the building marked "activity bus".....I figured hey, that's me, so I parked there. Wrong....about halfway through the game I see a '88 GMC/Wayne easing through the lot towards that space. So I ran over and moved out of the guy's space. He was a pretty nice guy...for a teacher. LOL
Incidently....it is still the Areas' responsibility to get those activity buses in for service. I took the one from Jefferson down to NEW several times last year. It was 740, an '87 IH/Ward, so I guess it's history now.... |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 6:14:29 PM
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Weird I remeber putting my lunch in a bay thing on the right side of the bus and it was a 89 FE maybe they got rid of them.But that was in forth Grade and was on a feild trip. but It was def not kept on the bus.
And I just look at the webshots and none of them had them, can ya ask ernie and ask him if some of the AA FE's have storage bays. |
Edited by - Drew19 on 08/30/2005 6:35:41 PM |
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VAdriver
Senior Member
USA
135 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 6:24:29 PM
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| I drive in Loudoun County and I've never seen GPS on one of our buses. I don't believe the yellow activity buses, which can be used on regular routes, have inside racks either. They do have storage underneath though. |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 6:28:36 PM
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| Oh maybe I heard wrong when the activity bus driver talked to us.But does you Also have a black box above your drivers area. the HDX activity and the other hdx had it too. I said I thought the yellow buses might hade the inside racks. have you ever driven an activity bus? Do you drive for Monroe and like stone bridge or briar woods? Briar Woods is right near my house and it's a brand new school. I apoligze if Im wrong. |
Edited by - Drew19 on 08/30/2005 8:14:37 PM |
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IC-RE
Top Member
USA
4117 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 8:18:41 PM
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| They do have the GPS that tells the office dispatcher where and HOW fast the bus is going at all times, but not the driver. |
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vabuslover
Advanced Member
United States
246 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2005 : 06:19:12 AM
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| In Newport News, we use whatever bus the driver assigned to the activity drives for activities. So if the driver is driving a crappy bus, we have to ride that. Most of the time they try to assign drivers with nice buses to activities. Or, the driver will be given a better-looking bus for the activity. (Mostly that is for weekend band/sports trios, or out of town sports activities. The driver for the basketball team normally drove a 96TC2000 FE, but when we went to Richmond, he drove an 03 IC CE. He also drove us on a 05 Vision when we went to Chesapeake) |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2005 : 06:53:58 AM
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| I wondered about the activity buses. I know one of the P.E. teachers at Fairfax High School was thinking of becoming a school bus driver so she could drive the students down to the bowling alley on days when the P.E. classes go bowling. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 09:59:30 AM
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| VADriver, what kind of bus do you drive? |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 11:05:43 AM
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| I e-mailed my buddy in Loudoun. He said they currently have 2 Thomas C2 buses. He also said that they will see how these two buses perform before deciding whether or not to buy more. |
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IC-RE
Top Member
USA
4117 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 1:52:11 PM
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Drew19, our 89 Blue Bird All Americanm FE's DO have the understorage bays! But we don;t you them.
At My school the driver of our Activity bus (88 GMC Wayne) is one of our Music teachers! |
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Drew19
Top Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 2:16:31 PM
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| Yeah I understand why we don't use them anymore there are probaly all rusted out but when I was little they were used. At least on the field trip I was on. The AA FE's were the first bus I was on that had a AM/FM radio, I was in fourth grade at the time. |
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VAdriver
Senior Member
USA
135 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 2:24:34 PM
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| I drive a 2001 IC-RE. I keep hoping I'll get a new air-conditioned IC but mine only has 44,000 miles on it so it probably won't be this year. |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 3:05:51 PM
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We have luggage bays on our AA FE's? I didn't think we did.
VAdriver, what is the criteria for getting an upgrade? |
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IC-RE
Top Member
USA
4117 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 4:48:46 PM
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| Yes we do have luggage bays on the 89's! And what a great question for VAdriver 1629! |
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Topic |
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Official Virginia School Bus Thread
