Two of the six Special Education buses have been taken off the road and have been replaced with two new models.
The older ones, 2011 and 2012, each had over 200,000 miles on them. Due to the wear and tear, the buses have seen a lot of time off the road and in the garage. This year alone, they had spent weeks in the garage.
“We were spending too much money on repairs for these two Special Ed buses,” said Dr. Wayne Guidry, assistant superintendent of business, transportation, and technology. “One of the most dangerous places you can be on the road is sitting on the road with cars going past you at 60 miles-per-hour. When a bus breaks down, kids have to get off the bus and be transferred to another bus.”
Thanks to the new buses being 2023 models, they will be spending more time on the road and less in the garage which will help the district to spend less money and keep the students safe.
Another advantage of the new buses is replacing parts will not be much of an issue. With the older ones, getting parts could often be a hassle nowadays.
“What’s even more pressing is that you can’t even get parts this year. They’re old, we couldn’t get parts (due to global shortages), and they’ve just been spending too much time in the shop,” Dr. Guidry said.