PHOTOS: Pupil Transportation in Pictures — Winter/Spring 2017

The buses seen here moved marching bands to a parade in Fairport, New York, in 1938. The building to the left was then Fairport High School. The photo is from the collection of Clara Moore Packard.

Helen Casner created this “snow bus” last winter as a surprise for the students on her real bus, which passes by her house on her afternoon route. Casner, who is an independent contractor in Mifflintown and Duncannon, Pennsylvania, didn’t have yellow spray paint for the snow bus, so she decided to make it a green “propane-powered” model, as she told her passengers.

When Tracey Fox brought her bus home for some extra cleaning, the big, yellow vehicle piqued her cat’s curiosity. “She decided not only to board the bus and check out my cleaning job, but decided that the wheel well was her favorite place to hang,” said Fox, who is a dispatcher and driver for Grand Ledge (Mich.) Public Schools.

Here’s another festive school bus entry in a Christmas parade. Waterford (Calif.) Unified School District transformed a bus into the legendary “Polar Express” train, which played the film’s soundtrack and train sounds through an exterior speaker. Seventeen students and their families climbed aboard for the Waterford parade on Dec. 3.

Retired American school buses often take on a new life in Central and South America, where they are typically used for public transportation. SBF General Manager James Blue spotted this repurposed bus — and many others — during a trip to Costa Rica.

The transportation team for Colton (Calif.) Joint Unified School District collected 186 jackets, 100 toys, and 1,000 pounds of food for families in need as part of its holiday Stuff the Bus project. The festive bus was also featured in a local Christmas parade on Dec. 10. Photo by Colton Joint USD

John Lunceford, a driver for Kennewick (Wash.) School District, noticed a boy waiting for his bus with no hat or gloves in freezing temperatures in December, so the driver gave the student his gloves. Lunceford then bought hats and gloves for other students in need on his route. Photo courtesy Kennewick School District

We’ve heard of a school of fish, but a school bus of fish? Christie Bond-Hill of Homer, Alaska, photographed this creatively painted truck, which transports young fish (called “fry”) from a hatchery in Anchorage.

Here’s a close-up shot of the “fish school bus.”

You’ve heard of a gingerbread house, but how about a gingerbread “mobile home”? The transportation team at Hillsborough County (Fla.) Public Schools crafted this creative float for the Plant City Christmas Parade on Dec. 2. Staff, school board members, and students took part in the parade.