Blue Bird, Synovia Solutions partner to offer Blue Bird Connect

Blue Bird Connect is a GPS system from Synovia Solutions, and the school bus manufacturer is making the system available to customers as a factory option when they order new buses. Customers have the option to activate, at no upfront cost, any or all components of Blue Bird Connect. Blue Bird dealers can also upfit an existing fleet of buses with the technology, regardless of brand.

Gauging the safety of school bus alternatives

Many school districts and contractors are employing a variety of vehicles to supplement traditional yellow bus service. These alternative arrangements often cut costs and shorten ride times, but the safety implications of transporting students in taxis, vans and other non-school bus vehicles have become a contentious issue.

Snapshots — Summer/Fall 2013

Districts, bus companies among Sustainability All-Star Award recipients

Mesa (Ariz.) Public Schools, All-Star Transportation, Student Transportation of America, Blue Bird Corp., Brighton (Colo.) School District 27J and ROUSH CleanTech are among the 40 winners of the award, which recognizes propane autogas fleets for their leadership in running vehicles on the fuel. The winners are recognized during the Green Fleet Conference & Expo in Phoenix.

A tribute to the school bus builders

There seems to be a great sense of pride and fulfillment in their work. Indeed, they’re building one of the safest vehicles on the road — a vehicle that millions of schoolchildren rely on.

Entire Blue Bird line completes Altoona testing

The school bus manufacturer’s line of Vision, All American and Micro Bird buses have been tested, and Blue Bird is reportedly the only large bus manufacturer to have its full line successfully complete the test. The test covers such criteria as maintainability, reliability, safety, structural integrity and performance.

Education, transportation secretaries support yellow buses

Staff members at the Tucson (Ariz.) Unified School District bus depot are joined on Wednesday morning by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. The duo discuss the importance of bus drivers in school safety, and they ride along on a school bus before participating in a service project at a local middle school.

Cook-Illinois buys 20 Blue Bird propane buses

The new Propane-Powered Vision school buses will transport students in Berkeley (Ill.) School District 87. Cook-Illinois reportedly utilized the school bus industry’s first adaptation of propane technology back in the early 1980s.

Wheel end assembly cited in school bus fire

A fire on a Blue Bird propane school bus on Monday likely originated in a wheel end assembly and did not compromise the propane fuel tanks, an independent fire investigator finds. There was no one on the bus at the time of the fire, and the engine was off.

Blue Bird names parts and service manager

Bill Landreth joins the company as general manager of parts and service, where he will work with dealerships to support Blue Bird’s service and support pledge, along with globally growing the parts and service division. He brings to the company more than 30 years of experience with parts and service management, specifically focused in the truck and school bus industries.