School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
 All Forums
 General Interest
 Enter Forum: General Interest
 Band buses
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

thewallfan
Active Member

USA
36 Posts

Posted - 09/12/2012 :  6:10:27 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Does your school have a band bus and how regularly do they use it. My schools is an good ol' late 80's carpenter painted to the schools colors, only used on the away varsity football games (6 or 7 a year.) The only other time it may be used is when they move desks to one school to another.

Jake
Top Member

USA
3527 Posts

Posted - 09/12/2012 :  6:54:11 PM  Show Profile  Visit Jake's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Must be an Ohio thing. I've seen a few schools convert old buses into band buses here in KY, but not very often at all.
Go to Top of Page

spin76
Active Member

26 Posts

Posted - 09/12/2012 :  7:15:37 PM  Show Profile  Visit spin76's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I've seen a few in MI, not too many though. Most of them are late 80s or early 90s buses. In MI, I have also seen some of them turned into mobile libraries. I know Allendale, near Grand Valley State University, used to have one. I believe it was an early 90s Thomas Int'l, prior to that was 80's Carpenter Int'l
Go to Top of Page

thewallfan
Active Member

USA
36 Posts

Posted - 09/13/2012 :  11:01:44 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I think that my school is only local school that does it, we're to cheap to buy a trailer, so we just used an old bus!

IC your CE
Go to Top of Page

Theguy522
Active Member

25 Posts

Posted - 09/15/2012 :  08:27:06 AM  Show Profile  Visit Theguy522's Homepage  Reply with Quote
We have one that has been around for a while. I used to see it when it was yellow probably back in 2005 and thought it was strange. They painted it soon after. It is former bus 341. It is a 1994 Bluebird TC2000FE. Starting to rust bad, and I rarely see it on the road. I imagine it will be getting replaced soon with an IC CE that gets retired.. but that is only speculation.


Visit My Bus Site:
www.nsyrbus.webs.com
Go to Top of Page

Jake
Top Member

USA
3527 Posts

Posted - 09/15/2012 :  8:20:06 PM  Show Profile  Visit Jake's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Nice paint scheme on that!
Go to Top of Page

RD9000
Senior Member

72 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2012 :  1:54:27 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
My school district used to have one. It was an early eighties Ford I beleive with a Thomas body. It was also one of the last manual transmissions our district had. They took out most of the seats and built custom bench like storage areas for the instruments. It was cheaper than buying a box truck for that purpose. They painted it white with the school's mascot name and band signature. It was kind of slick in it's day. They eventually got rid of it when it's maintenance outweighed its usefulness in the early nineties. I'd love to know where it ended up. There was also a story of it having a skunk coming on board one night in the yard and getting spooked... that could have been a deciding factor in its dismissal!
Go to Top of Page

RD9000
Senior Member

72 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2012 :  1:56:42 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
They eventually began using box trucks when other needs in the district required acquiring box trucks. They now have a large lo-pro Chevy and a regular International both with 24-26 foot boxes.
Nice band bus TheGuy522!
Go to Top of Page

thewallfan
Active Member

USA
36 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2012 :  3:04:31 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
thats really fancy compaired to what we have. They only put 1 coat of paint on and you can see the yellow showing threw.

IC your CE
Go to Top of Page

WayneCustom
Active Member

30 Posts

Posted - 09/22/2012 :  12:24:56 PM  Show Profile  Visit WayneCustom's Homepage  Reply with Quote
My district painted up three high mileage TC2000FE's, one for each of our three high schools, took out all but a few rows of seats, then built shelves for instruments, uniforms, etc. All three buses look very sharp.
Go to Top of Page

coolbuskid
Senior Member

51 Posts

Posted - 10/04/2012 :  7:43:42 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
How about a team/band bus in the form of a Thomas Saf-T-Liner HDX or coach-style chassis with underside storage compartments, painted out in the school colors and lettering, with a suite of interior amenities including wireless Internet and video screens? For the price that some public school districts claim to be spending on bus transportation, they should be able to afford buses like these.

It's funny watching one particular ensemble getting the fancy coach buses, while the associated honor guard gets basic schoolbus-style transportation, the musicians hanging their uniform bags from the sliding windows.
Go to Top of Page

RD9000
Senior Member

72 Posts

Posted - 10/05/2012 :  11:52:54 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Many schools have begun allocating money towards activity style buses for bands and sports teams. I am a big fan of the Blue Bird and Thomas activity buses. In the south central area, many schools have been sold on buying Van Hool charter buses from ABC in Texas. I'm not a big VanHool van, as I prefer MCI's and Prevost's when it comes to charter buses. I think activity buses definitely add class to your district as well as make long activity trips more comfortable. I believe most of the buses discussed in this thread are more used/designed to haul band equipment rather than the band members.
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
 


School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums © 2022 School Bus Fleet Magazine Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.08 seconds. Snitz Forums 2000