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Rich
Top Member
United States
5768 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2003 : 5:49:51 PM
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What style of numbering system does your bus yard/district/contractor follow?
Many in our area do not have much of a system. For example, one area contractor has some conventionals starting at 300 going up towards 399, then some at 1200+, 1000+, etc. The transits are in years, such as 9801 and 9906. And the minis go as R-1, wheelchair buses as WC-1.
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School Bus Photos, Information and More: http://www.schoolbuscentral.com |
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Silas J.
Top Member
USA
938 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 6:24:50 PM
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Our system is very simple. The numbers are something like 99-24, the "99" being the year and the "24" being whatever number is avalible that is below 31. We did have two mini buses that had numbers V-1 and V-2,I belive these were used as vocational school shuttles when the old high school was still in use. However,when something about a bus is announced,such as a route change or late bus,it is always called "24" instead of "99-24".
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Silas J.
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Peter
Top Member
USA
1057 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 7:21:20 PM
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First Student's fleet numbers come from when the company was a part of the Ryder system. Every Ryder vehicle, buses included, was issued a six digit unit number. These numbers generally increased through the years, although numbers that became available that were lower were also used.
For example: our 1988 BB/GMC conventionals were # 399366-399385. The 1993 BB/IHs were #485201-485215 and the 1999 BB/IHs are #325622-325658. The Ryder system was used up through the year 2000. From 2001 on, all new vehicles purchased have been issued a six digit ID, but now the first two digits are the year of purchase. This year we got 020552-020560 and 021702-021713.
While every bus has a six digit unit number assigned to it that is most often not the "number" of the bus. At my terminal, the last four digits are used as the bus number so the above mentioned new buses are 0552, 1705, etc. Some other terminals use this system as well, while some number the buses to match the routes on which they are driven, per the contract for that particular district.
Edited by - Peter on 05/20/2003 7:39:28 PM |
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thomas86_a
Top Member
USA
4413 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 7:21:45 PM
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First in Michigan the buses are required to be numbered in six places, above the drivers window, above the door, above the rear passenger window on each side, on the rear of the bus right side bottom and on the front of the bus. A district when they chose the number for their bus can not change it, a bus number can only be changed if the bus is sold.
Most districts in Michigan use the year number, for example 2004 buses will be numbered 04-xx or xx-04. Our district uses the year number and since we are smaller we sometimes only get one bus when we order, for example we are getting an 04 Freightliner this summer, because we are only getting one it will just be bus 04. When we order more than one bus such as in 2003, we numbered it 03-1 and 03-2.
Other districts in Michigan just tend to use their own numbering system, but a lot of them will use the year number, this makes it nice for identifying the year of a bus.
The Thomas M2 Conventional- Coming to a bus yard near you in 2004! |
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B. Busguy33
Top Member
USA
3444 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 7:38:32 PM
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quote:
While every bus has a six digit unit number assigned to it that is most often not the "number" of the bus. At my terminal, the last four digits are used as the bus number so the above mentioned new buses are 0552, 1705, etc. Some other terminals use this system as well, while some number the buses to match the routes on which they are driven, per the contract for that particular district.
Most districts using First Student in my area have both the unit or asset number and the route number of the bus.
Some of our buses take the last three digits of the six-digit asset number and put the three digit numbers on the roof above the entrance door, below the left-side driver's window, on the back of the bus - below the right tail light, and inside the bus on the front header. If the bus has the asset number 587809, 809 would appear in those areas.
All of our buses also have a route number placed in three locations on the bus.
Most Laidlaw buses I have seen, on the other hand, have six-digit asset numbers, such as: 924158 or 210562. The first number is a 1998 model year bus and the second is a 2002 model year bus. This is determined by taking the first and last digits of the six-digit asset number. The four digits in between the first and last digits are the delivery number of the bus, I believe.
Edited by - B. Busguy33 on 05/20/2003 7:41:21 PM |
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Peter
Top Member
USA
1057 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 7:45:51 PM
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We use plastic sleeves in the second passenger window on each side for route signs.
Most First Student buses have the unit or asset number posted inside the bus above the driver's window, on the bulkhead or above the service door. If you're a number junkie, as I am, this is helpful for mapping the distribution of buses that are numbered to match routes.
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B. Busguy33
Top Member
USA
3444 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 7:53:40 PM
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quote:
Most First Student buses have the unit or asset number posted inside the bus above the driver's window, on the bulkhead or above the service door. If you're a number junkie, as I am, this is helpful for mapping the distribution of buses that are numbered to match routes.
In that case, count me in as a number junkie!
I forgot to mention that in my post above: First Student does have a white sign displaying the six-digit unit number of their buses. On ours, it's on the left side, above the driver's window. I remember seeing these signs in all of our Ryder buses. First Student must've carried that over to their buses. On that sign, I have also seen recommended tire p.s.i. ratings.
Up until a couple years ago, we used magnetic signs with the route numbers on them. Now we have white numbers that are located on the first row passenger window, right side; the rear window (next to the emergency door), right side; and one at the front of the bus on the crossing arm mechanism, at the right corner of the bumper. Some buses are missing one, two, or all three numbers.
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Thomas Ford 85-16
Top Member
USA
4177 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 05:23:18 AM
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We use the "04-xx" system that 86a described. For example, 00-34 is the bus I ride, a 2000 model. The one I own is 85-16, a 1985 model. After lining all the numbers up (which at that same time I was amazed I knew all of our buses) I discovered that they do make an effort to make the last set of numbers sequencial and will be filled in. For example, when my bus 85-16 was retired, that "space" aws eventually filled in with 02-16. As of now, our buses range from -1 to -76 with only a few repeats.
For route numbers, we have the two digit route numbers from reflective image. The highest route number I've heard over the radio this year is 72. They are located, per Michigan law, under the second passenger window (for the most part).
Stop at: http://buses.thesummit.biz
This is an industry where people brag about their times for 60-0, not 0-60.
Edited by - The BusBoy on 05/21/2003 05:24:48 AM |
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Wolfman
Senior Member
USA
192 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 07:28:37 AM
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Our buses started out with #01, now we are up to #174. This took a few years with a fleet of only 35 buses. Other areas here are up in the 400's and numbers like 376-2.
Wolfman Howling  Mostly at the kids!
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BusBoy
Top Member
USA
2042 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 09:37:53 AM
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I love how Michigan numbers their buses! They also place in the front and back the school district! That's a great numbering format!
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thomas91
Advanced Member
USA
212 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 09:38:21 AM
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We have practically no numbering system. We buy mostly used buses and we use the numbers that are on then already. When we buy brand new buses, we just fill in the blank spots. For example, this past summer we bought one new bus, an 03 IH/BB and it is number 6. This replaces bus 6, an old IH/Carpenter that we sold about eight years ago. We have about 35 or so buses and the numbers are as follows: 5,6,7,9,10,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,23,
24,25,26,27,28,29,101,102,104,106,129,130,134,
182,183,184,185,330,331,332,333,334.
Buses 182-185 were purchased from Hoekstra in Michigan and have the numbers in the same places as thomas86a had said in a previous post. These are identical 91 IH/Thomases.
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thomas86_a
Top Member
USA
4413 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 10:48:43 AM
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quote:
I love how Michigan numbers their buses! They also place in the front and back the school district! That's a great numbering format!
I forgot to mention that, yes the full district name goes on the sides and usually the front and rear will have the first part of the district name, for example if it says Detroit Public Schools on the sides, it'll just say Detroit on the front and rear.
The Thomas M2 Conventional- Coming to a bus yard near you in 2004!
Edited by - thomas86_a on 05/21/2003 10:49:04 AM |
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Thomasfan89
Top Member
USA
1155 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 1:17:48 PM
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We just number them 1-85. When a bus is replaced, the new bus gets the old buses number. For example a 85 Ford Carp. (21) was replaced with new 21 a 2002 Thomas International.
At the school I am giong to nx year, they have their own fleet. They number their buses in the order they get them. Right now the have 6,7,8,9, an 10. 1 2 3 4 and 5 were retired. The number stant for the number bus they have like 10 stands for the 10th bus that school ever got! Very confusing and interresting!
The Thomas Ford, always built, Ford and Thomas, Tough!!!!
Visit the school bus garage: http://www.geocities.com/fordman11189/SchoolBusGarage.html |
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Peter
Top Member
USA
1057 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 3:25:55 PM
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quote:
The number stant for the number bus they have like 10 stands for the 10th bus that school ever got! Very confusing and interresting!
Why is this confusing? If I am understanding what you are describing correctly, this is the most logical method of numbering your buses. This way there are no repeats.
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Bus Boy 39
Top Member
USA
1315 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 4:12:11 PM
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Our buses are numbered by bus size. The 100's are 18-25 passengers. The 200's are 36-72 passengers. The 300's are 84 passengers. However, we still have some buses in the 30's and 40's because when the contractor that we have now bought them, he never bothered to change the numbers.
The buses in the 200's go up to 221. We DO NOT have a 204, 206, 213, and 215. Our 300's go up to 319. The only buses that we have in the 30's and 40's are: 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 40, 44, 45, 46, and 50. We also have a bus 6.
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NewBee Driver
Senior Member
USA
191 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2003 : 6:36:34 PM
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First student in Seattle has two terminals, North and South. I work at the South Terminal that was around when it was Ryder. We have mostly ’92 BB/Int.’s with about 50 ’02 Amtrans (or what ever there called now.) and about 10 late ‘90s BB/Int.’s. All of the BB’s are remnants of Ryder. The ‘92s all have a six-digit unit number but we only use the last four that consists of five series 12xx, 14xx, 16xx, 17xx and 51xx. The late ‘90s are the same with a series number of 94xx. The ‘02s also have a six digit number with the first two being the year (02) but since they are all 0214xx and would be duplicates of the 14xx series they us five digits 214xx.
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Ricky
Advanced Member
USA
352 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2003 : 10:39:06 AM
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In Arkansas the school buses have 3 numbers. The first number indicates the county. The second number indicates which school district within that county. The final number is the actual bus number issued by the school district. Here is an example: 12-1-11. This also serves as the license for the bus.
Stephen R. Adamson (AmTran11) |
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80-RE4
Top Member
USA
5700 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2003 : 5:33:34 PM
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Our busses are numbered by asset number and route number. The spares only have an asset number.
There is a way to find out the year of the bus. Example.
Busses that are 96's go something like this
922226 (made up number)
The first number and last number of the asset number tells the year.
299443 means 2003
299442 means 2002
999449 means 1999 and so forth
(I made these asset numbers up, they are not real)
All the asset numbers are 6 digits
Our routes are numbered starting with route 1-30 for the big busses
and 50-70 for small or half busses
Not all numbers are taken. Example
It goes 50, 51, 54, 57
I love my Amtran RE ;-)
Edited by - 96 amtran re on 05/23/2003 5:35:29 PM |
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Thomas Ford 85-16
Top Member
USA
4177 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2003 : 6:44:56 PM
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First in Michigan the buses are required to be numbered in six places, above the drivers window, above the door, above the rear passenger window on each side, on the rear of the bus right side bottom and on the front of the bus. A district when they chose the number for their bus can not change it, a bus number can only be changed if the bus is sold.
Most districts in Michigan use the year number, for example 2004 buses will be numbered 04-xx or xx-04. Our district uses the year number and since we are smaller we sometimes only get one bus when we order, for example we are getting an 04 Freightliner this summer, because we are only getting one it will just be bus 04. When we order more than one bus such as in 2003, we numbered it 03-1 and 03-2.
Other districts in Michigan just tend to use their own numbering system, but a lot of them will use the year number, this makes it nice for identifying the year of a bus.
The Thomas M2 Conventional- Coming to a bus yard near you in 2004!
Also, for Oakland County, the buses will have numbers on the roof. I for some reason think that's pretty cool  .
Stop at: http://buses.thesummit.biz
This is an industry where people brag about their times for 60-0, not 0-60. |
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jthurston
Active Member
USA
30 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2003 : 12:10:11 AM
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Our bus numbering system is easy. The buses are numbered 1 through 39... and whenever a bus is traded in, the new bus gets the same number.
It's intersting to note that in the 70's and 80's, they used to put a "B-" in front of the bus number, which I assume stood for "Bus." I rode to school on B-21 and B-35... and actually thought that ALL schools had a "B" as part of the number! Turns out it was just New Castle... I've never seen it done any place else.
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thomasfan892
Senior Member
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2003 : 05:02:06 AM
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This is our numbering system
Small buses, dual rear wheels: B-xx
Small buses, single rear wheels: M-xx (With the exception of one bus, M-5, a 1994 Carpenter/Chevrolet, which has dual rear wheels)
Lift buses: L-xx
Large buses: 2xx or 3xx
Thomas HDX - The most modern school bus design. |
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NavistarPower
Active Member
18 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2003 : 6:00:00 PM
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Our district's fullsize buses have "L" in front of the numbers (eg. L-36). Small buses have "E" in front of the numbers (eg. E-57). No true order to the numbers, if a bus is replaced it gets the same number. For example, L-24 was replaced from a Ward/GMC to a Thomas/Freightliner. The new bus gets the same number as the old one. It seems that the Carpenter/Internationals stop around L-37. ONE Crown by Carpenter/International which is L-38. From there its AmTran/Internationals. Thomas/Freightliners are the lower numbers that have been replaced. The two Ward/Internationals are L-4 and L-16. The majority of the lower ones are newer. Middle ones are middle aged. High numbers are fairly new.
I realize this is somewhat off-topic as well, but do some schools in your district get the older buses while others get the newer buses? I realize that in our four high school district, Cherokee and Lenape get the older buses for service while Shawnee and Seneca get the newer buses.
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A bus to come.... |
Edited by - NavistarPower on 12/16/2003 6:03:22 PM |
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Carpenter
Advanced Member
238 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2003 : 7:42:50 PM
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Our system is easy... Take an example....Bus # 12-99
In this bus....the "12" designates it was the twelfth bus entered into the fleet in its model year. The "99" is the model year.
Last two digits are model year, any preceding digits are the order in which that bus entered the fleet. The newest buses are 1-03, 2-03, 3-03, 4-03, 5-03, 6-03, 7-03, 8-03, 9-03, 10-03, 11-03, 12-03, 14-03, 15-03, and 16-03. Notice, they skip the "13" in the sequence.
Our system makes no distinction between the full-size and the handicapped buses. All our buses are Type C models. We have no vans, Type A, B, or D buses. |
UNLAWFUL TO PASS WHEN RED LIGHTS FLASH |
Edited by - Carpenter on 12/17/2003 06:32:11 AM |
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BPS_Driver
Advanced Member
USA
259 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2003 : 04:19:40 AM
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| I follow the trend- Bus number dash the year. 60-04, 61-04, etc... |
23 Million safe deliveries a day by all of us |
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GMCBlueBird83
Top Member
USA
1478 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2003 : 8:17:08 PM
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Here in Palm Beach county Florida it is like that too. For example, bus #0324 is a 2003 Blue Bird All American RE, but #9901 is a 1999 Amtran FE. In the early '90s(and I assume in the '70s and '80s as well) the bus # had "ID" in front of the number such as bus #ID9047 which was a 1990 Thomas International.
When I lived in New York, Clarkstown Central School District just numbered in order. Numbers were almost never re-used except for some buses from the early '70s and some of the type A vans.
At SUNY Buffalo where I went to college, the company they used, which was named Blue Bird Coach(not related to to the body) used the same system as Palm Beach. Bus #8601 was a 1986 Wayne GMC and #9411 was a 1994 CNG transit with the Cummins engine(really horrible bus!). The body I believe was an Amtran/Genesis but I don't know for sure. It was an FE however with dual air doors, both on the right. |
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FirstStudentKid
Senior Member
USA
126 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2003 : 5:51:49 PM
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My First Student bus had an Identification number of 599686 posted on a sticker above the driver's control board to the left of the rearview mirror. Also, a four digit location number is present on the sticker. On the side of the bus there is a 3 digit number which is directly above the words "First Student." My favorite location is the number located on the bus's nose above the stop arm. This location allows students to see what number bus is approaching when they are waiting at a bus stop. Then, they can know if it is there bus or not. Also, a three digit number is easy to remember than a 12 digit nation-wide tracking number. Location information is embedded into the three digit number as well. For my bus 828, the number 8 indicates city and type of bus. Numbers greater then 5 indicates a 65/71/84 capacity bus and "4" indicates "16" capacity while "5" indicates a miscellaneous low capacity. Each number above 5 indicates a different Base location.
Safety is NEVER Second at First! |
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Blake913
Senior Member
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2003 : 7:04:58 PM
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Our buses are numbered with year models. We have 3 and 4 digits. 501-514 = 85's BB,
701-712 = 87's BB, 801-814 = 88's BB, 901-915 = 89's BB/Waynes, 101-111 = 91's Thomas/BB, 930-938 = 93's Thomas, 940-948 = 94's Thomas, 9500-9511 = 95's Thomas/Carpenter, 9620-9631 = 96's Carpenter, 9720-9731 = 97's Thomas, 9820-9831 = 98's Carpenter, 9920-9931 = 99's Thomas,
2001-2012 = '00's BB, 2101-2112 = '01's BB/Thomas, 2201-2210 = '02's BB/IC, 2301-2309 '03's IC, 2401-2420 = '04's IC |
2801...The NEWEST addition! |
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School Bus Numbering Systems
