Once school buses are retired from pupil transportation, they're often overhauled for completely different uses. Here are some interesting and unexpected examples we've come across recently.
The New Lives of Old School Buses
This bus has been turned into a gym on wheels. Tumblebus Fitness, which serves southwest and western suburbs of Chicago, offers physical fitness programs at schools and day cares as well as parties.
Military veteran Mark Lilly turned this 1987 school bus into a farmers market on wheels. His Farm to Family operation distributes locally grown food to families in urban areas and educates people about food security.
Lilly’s bus visits farms and picks up fresh food, which is boxed and placed on the bus. Customers can then purchase the food at drop-off spots in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va.
Bob Votruba has a goal: convince as many as people as he can to perform 1 million acts of kindness in their life. To spread his message, Votruba bought a 1990 small bus on Craigslist to tour the country. Family and friends helped him paint the bus with positive messages. Furnishings inside include a plywood bed. For more info, go to www.onemillionactsofkindness.com.
This bus was first a school bus, and then it was converted into a mobile art gallery by the parents of Sarah Malawista, a teenage artist from Maryland who had come up with an idea to create an "art bus" for inner-city schools before she died in 2006. The Malawistas recently donated the bus to the forthcoming Bronx Children's Museum in New York. The permanent museum is slated to open in a historic, city-owned castle in a park in 2013. In the meantime, the repurposed bus is bringing art and other subjects to kids throughout the Bronx, with exhibits and hands-on programs on board.
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The Tumblebus has a variety of gymnastic and exercise equipment on board, including rings, monkey bars, a zip line, a balance beam and a slide. For more information, go to www.tumblebusfitness.com.
Atlantic Express offered to house the "art bus" on its Bronx lot and perform minor repairs. Pictured from left are Carla Precht, founding executive director of the museum, and Atlantic Express' Tommy Joy, terminal manager, and Walter Green, who drives the bus. For more on the museum, go to www.bronxchildrensmuseum.org.