WASHINGTON, D.C. — The effort to create a federally-funded program promoting school bus use needs nearly 40 more representatives to sign on before the plan is sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Pupil transportation industry groups, partnered as the American School Bus Council (ASBC), are urging their members to contact their congressmen and congresswomen and ask them to support the campaign. It would establish a two-year public education program to promote greater use of school buses.

A letter to LaHood has been drafted that outlines the safety, environmental and financial benefits of utilizing school buses, and asks him to dedicate agency funding for the campaign.

Congressmen Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Howard Coble (R-N.C.) sent a message to their colleagues in the House of Representatives in February asking them to sign the letter to LaHood.

The letter is scheduled to be sent to LaHood next Friday, March 26.

“If we want him to pay attention, we need at least 50 representatives’ signatures on that letter,” Danielle Abe, director of marketing and operations for the National School Transportation Association (NSTA), told members. She said that as of Thursday, only 12 congressmen had signed on.

You can find out the name of your congressperson by entering your ZIP code at www.house.gov. ASBC is asking members of the school bus community to e-mail their representatives’ transportation aide and then follow up with a phone call to the aide.

A list of representatives’ aides and contact info, as a well as a sample letter, are available on the NSTA Website.