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School Bus Fleet Blog

Wes Platt

Wes Platt

Former Executive Editor

[Archives] Join us in an open-ended conversation about children and school buses – and the people who bring them together from SBF's editorial team and guest authors.

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Thomas McMahonJune 16, 2014

Stop-arm incident photo is worth 1,000 words

One interesting detail in the journey of a South Carolina stop-arm camera measure through the legislative process is the role that a photo played. Bill sponsor Sen. Thomas Alexander showed the shocking picture to other legislators to help galvanize support for the bill.

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Thomas McMahonMay 19, 2014

The trouble with cutting bus service

Previously, I discussed the notion that districts have a responsibility to be “in the transportation business,” which some disagree with. Here, I want to draw attention to issues that arise when districts decide to cut school bus service. As shown in the Etiwanda (Calif.) School District example, increased traffic around schools is one of the key problems. ...

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Kelly AguinaldoMay 9, 2014

Cars backing up after running a stop-arm?

We are well aware of the problem of motorists illegally passing school buses that are stopped for students who are boarding or disembarking. Another problem that we hadn’t heard of is drivers passing a stopped bus, realizing what they’d done and then backing up their car to where they should have stopped. A school bus driver contacted us about this issue ...

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Thomas McMahonApril 25, 2014

Districts are in the transportation business

A school board member at a Virginia district told the Washington Post, “We are not in the transportation business. We are in the education business.” That statement seems misguided and even unsettling. Yes, school districts’ primary responsibility is to educate children. But that doesn’t mean it’s their only responsibility. …

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Kelly AguinaldoApril 18, 2014

Take stock in your accomplishments

We’ve all had personal and professional accomplishments that we’re particularly proud of. One of my top professional accomplishments is learning and writing about the ins and outs of an industry that I knew very little about when I started working for this publication. For Shane Kirley, whom we've reported on in the past, obtaining his CDL was one of his “best accomplishments.”

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School Bus Fleet Blogby Frank Di GiacomoApril 1, 2014

Compartmentalization plus

Rather than resting on the fact that the yellow bus is the long-established safest form of school transportation, we need to be constantly asking ourselves this question: Could school buses be safer? When we ask that question, we have to consider lap-shoulder belts, which has long been a contentious issue in the industry. ...

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