Louisiana District Upgrades Fleet with 22 New School Buses

LIVINGSTON, La. — A school district here recently received a total of 22 new school buses as part of an effort to upgrade its fleet and replace buses that were lost during a flood.

The new buses for Livingston Parish Public Schools are part of a district-wide upgrade plan established in 2015 that would allow the district to add 10 to 12 new buses to its fleet each year, according to a news release from the district. However, that plan had to be escalated after a flood in 2016 caused the district to lose more than 70 of its buses, according to Joshua Day, the transportation supervisor for Livingston Parish Public Schools.

“Since that time, we’ve had to lease several buses in addition to what we could purchase,” Day said. “I’m glad to say that this year’s purchase allows us to do away with all flood-related leases, and we can return to our normal replacement schedule after this year.”

The buses, which cost approximately $80,000 each, were purchased from Kent Mitchell Bus-RV Sales in Hammond, according to Day, and are equipped with the latest safety features and three-eye cameras that can record images at the front and back of the bus. Day added that two of the new buses are smaller sized models designed to transport students with special needs.

Livingston Parish Public Schools currently transports about 16,000 students to and from school every day, according to Day. The district anticipates using more than 250 of its regular buses for the 2019-20 school year, while several smaller buses will be utilized to transport special-needs students.

View more photos of the buses, posted on Livingston Parish Public Schools' Facebook page, below.