The Examiner U-46 News Feed

District U-46 planning to reduce school bus fleet

By Seth Hancock
  School District U-46 plans to reduce its bus fleet by 24 buses, 14 large and 10 small, in the 2023-2024 school year.
  That’s according to an age and obsolescence plan for bus replacement plan presented to the Board of Education over the summer by Marcy Murphy, director of transportation.
  “The replacement plan takes the entire existing fleet through a twelve-year cycle for all buses,” Murphy wrote in a memo. “Buses scheduled for replacement may be retained longer based on operating condition and mileage as deemed appropriate by the Director of Transportation.”
  The plans for this year include the reduction in fleet but no purchases.  
  “We are researching options for these units for disposal, salvage, or resale,” Murphy wrote. “This will right size the fleet based on our current route conditions.”
  The district will continue to evaluate fleet needs based on enrollment and boundary considerations, according to Murphy, and four buses will be donated to local fire departments to be used for training.
  There is no action, purchases or reductions, planned for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. In 2026-2027, the district expects to replace 46 large buses and 40 small buses.
  Considering supply chain issues, board member Veronica Noland asked it problems may be anticipated to replace a large number of buses in one year. Murphy said the district will evaluate, and it is possible to see some of those replacements earlier.
  As for long term needs, Murphy wrote that the district is looking at buses “with seatbelts and/or integrated car seats” and expanding the small bus fleet for special education and homeless students.
  Additionally, the district is exploring “grants and funding available to purchase electric school buses,” Murphy wrote. Those buses cost three to four times more than diesel, according to Murphy, and grants would not cover the costs of charging stations, estimated at $40,000, or facility adjustments needed.
  The Washington Examiner reported earlier this year on the experience of Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan which has used electric buses for over two years. Emile Lauzzana, the district’s environmental sustainability director, said “it’s been a tough two and a half years with this program” with “a lot of downtime and performance issues” with the buses being “five times more expensive” and the infrastructure costing four times more than originally estimated.