As part of Earth Week, the school bus contractor touts its year-round efforts to protect the environment, including an idling reduction program. The company also launches its second annual “Slim Down Challenge,” which is a 10-week competition that involves groups of four to seven employees aiming to score the best in percentage of weight lost.
Read More →Comments in a few of the latest Thomas Built Buses Children’s Choice School Bus Driver of the Year essays pointed to a negative perception of school bus drivers that the children had developed based on what they had read or seen on screen. But, fortunately, the kids’ worries were put to rest when they actually rode the bus and had positive experiences with their drivers.
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More than 80 people in Van Buren County, Mich., participate in an emergency training event that shows them what it feels like to be in an overturned school bus as well as one filled with smoke. Transportation Supervisor Mark Niewoonder shares details on the hands-on event and how it changed staff members’ perceptions.
Read More →The new version of the School Bus Report Card, available online to parents from the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission, features improved search functions, and calculates and supplies the percentage of buses within a particular school yard or bus company that were either initially approved or put out of service. Motor Vehicle Commission Chairman and Chief Administrator Raymond P. Martinez says that the tool reinforces the importance of the state’s stringent bus inspection program.
Read More →In an article by Philip Ball for the Energy Quarterly feature of MRS Bulletin, a professor and researcher at Drexel University in Philadelphia explains supercapacitors as power-storage devices that can supply onboard electrical power in vehicles. Officials say that on buses, the technology can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 30%.
Read More →More than a dozen school bus contracting professionals earn awards at the National School Transportation Association’s ceremony in Milwaukee. Percy Abbott of First Student wins the Distinguished Service honor.
Read More →Regulations proposed by Environmental Minister Peter Kent are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of large pickup trucks, short/long-haul tractors, cement and garbage trucks, buses and more, for model year 2014 and beyond. The regulations are part of the country's overall climate change strategy, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
Read More →Rep. Bruce Braley introduces legislation at the federal level that would require Iowa’s new penalties for motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses to apply to all states in the country. States that fail to adopt the standards would face losing 10 percent of federal highway funding each year.
Read More →Portland Public Schools operates some of its own buses and also contracts with First Student — eighty percent of all the buses are powered by the fuel. Officials say the propane units run up to 30,000 miles longer than buses fueled by gasoline, resulting in lower maintenance costs, and the district expects to see a 50-percent savings in fuel costs.
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The mobiclean R diesel particulate filter provides emission reductions of diesel particulate matter by at least 85 percent and is designated as a California Level 3 Plus system, according to the company.
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