It’s hard to believe I’ve already been at the wheel of School Bus Fleet for a year. A lot of the job has been drinking from the firehose of information – the alphabet soup of associations, the different types of buses, the varieties of equipment, the manufacturers, the rules and regulations. I’ve taken in a lot, but there’s so much more to absorb and process.
Looking ahead, the National School Transportation Association hopes to see more states taking advantage of the "under-the-hood" CDL waiver.
Disruptive behavior, sometimes caused by these summer breaks, is on the rise and can prove particularly challenging during the first six weeks of the school year, Brooke Garcia said. In those instances, “the driver needs to the thermostat in the bus, rather than the thermometer.”
Harvesting, analyzing, and acting on data is a never-ending requirement in fleet management. With EVs, the need increases exponentially — and requires new systems, networks, and apps to manage and integrate.
The past two years have been anything but normal, and that required us to cancel our Bus‐In events for both 2020 and 2021. These cancellations did not mean that the association’s advocacy efforts shut down for the better part of two years.
The EPA has indicated that the next phase of the program may be more focused on grants rather than rebates, which might be more appealing to school districts across the financial spectrum. But even if they hand out millions of up-front dollars to buy new electric buses, it can be a risky investment without proper planning.
The EPA’s approach to federal support for electrification begs the question if it will be accessible to districts that need it the most. The FTA’s phased model provides an attractive transition period for scaling; could it work for student transportation as well?
As you step into this leadership role, make good choices during the first month. Here’s how.