By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab School District will purchase one new school bus to
replace one that is 15 years old.
School board members voted to accept the recommendation
of Norm Wall, district transportation director, and replace
the oldest bus with a new Bluebird for the price of
$83,743.
The money was already in the budget and the state bid was
used.
One thing the new bus will not have is seat belts. The
state does not mandate them.
"There is a lot of controversy on whether seat belts are
good," said Wall. "Some states have mandated they be
installed in school buses."
However, he said, his opinion was that they should not
be. One reason that it was difficult for little kids to get
out of seat belts when they were installed in school
business. Some children were held in the belts and had to be
released by an adult one by one.
Others received injuries when they released themselves
while they were hanging upside down.
"Over the years, seats have been improved for safety. All
seats now have the high seat backs and are constructed to
provide more safety for kids."
As for leg room, he said, there is not a lot to be done
to make buses more comfortable for adults without
sacrificing seat space. Sometimes districts have elected to
remove one seat on each side of the bus to provide more leg
room, however, the loss of seats was usually not worth the
room.
"I didn't think there was much difference," Wall
said.
When two seats are cut from the capacity that means that
four less high school students can ride the bus and six less
elementary students. The maximum capacity is needed.
There are 80 elementary school students who are bused
from Levan, 74 from Mona and with the busing of middle
school students, night activity buses, and kindergarten
students bused at various times, the more seats the
better.
"The new Bluebird is a little less expensive than the
school bus purchased last year," said Wall. "It will also
have luggage racks installed and will have a surveillance
camera."
All new buses have cameras and also have made use of new
technology in providing a constantly running tape of the
interior of the bus. That way, if something happens which
needs to be preserved as evidence, the tape can be popped
out and saved.
"It will have rear traction," said Wall.
The new bus, as all school buses in the district have had
since the 1992 model, will have an automatic transmission.
Automatic shifting systems have much less trouble than do
the older-style transmissions.
"The new buses with the automatic transmissions go up
canyon roads with ease," he said. "When the buses are taken
to Kamas and through Salina canyon, for example, they travel
at normal speeds."
In addition, Wall said, the Bluebird had a good parts
delivery time-line and some of the other bus manufacturers
were not able to get parts out to owners in as timely a
fashion.
The district has a fleet of 10 buses with the oldest
model a 1987 and the next oldest a 1989. Both are gas-fired
engines.
The newer buses are diesel engines. The 1990 model had to
have a new engine installed because it was determine that
the bus had an under-sized engine for its size. Since then,
all diesel engines have had more horsepower and have served
well.
Wall suggested the board agree to purchase one new bus
every year for 15 years and then skip one year. That would
keep the bus fleet up-to-par, he said.
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