School Busses

GameboyRMH wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: Back when I rode them regularly, they didn't have cameras in them, because we weren't a bunch of entitled, misbehaving, undisciplined heathen.

When the hell was that? The bus I rode had lots of smoking, taunting, menacing, bullying, a beatdown or two and occasionally some throwing of stuff out those E36 M3ty windows at pedestrians. And all that was in a time when the bus driver could pistol whip you for insolence if he wanted.

Back then that stuff was considered "character-building" and adults just looked the other way. Today's "entitled" children are too good for that obviously!

Actually from what I've read lately, the cameras are to record the shootings, rapes, gang activities, etc. on the buses. The sad thing is, it isn't just happening in certain parts of town or certain parts of the country. If you read much national news, you'll find it seems to happen on occasion just about everywhere. Not often at any one spot, but often enough to make a good case for cameras and two-way radios to call the law.

I've even read where they are start to put cameras in the door-wells. Parents, often women, are beating bus drivers & even dragging them off their bus by their feet! What a great example for their kids.

These exist all over. We haul old folks from retirement homes in them, we transport people to and from airports and hotels in them

But we move children around in something basically unchanged since the 60's. Sure they have poorly updated front fascias but still ....

When I lived overseas (italy, for military), we used to ride tour buses to school since they didn't really have "school buses" there. Then again, they were picking us up all over the place so some people had a 1.5-2 hour ride home

We use to go to the ends of the world to get a motor from old school busses them due to the numerous heat cycling's of the block. Not sure it really mattered but back in the day it was important.

They have changed since I was in school. The seat backs are ~12" taller than when I was riding a bus every day. Part of that encapsulation idea. Those people calling for seat belts on school busses either have never watched a bunch of kids on a bus or have forgotten what they saw.

mndsm wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Other than escape hatches in the roof I can't see any safety improvements. I would assume that ABS might have made it over, but then again..... I'll think about it some more when I have to get back on another one for the 6th grade trip tomorrow.

They have blinky lights and numbers on the roof now too.

Yea what's up with the strobe light up on the roof? It's seriously annoying in traffic.

If someone said you could have a state if the art school bus with air ride, a low profile so the rug rats didn't have to climb as high, climate control, ect like a commercial bus would you be willing to pay much more for it? A city bus that has those features generally run over $500,000 each. With the relatively little use a school bus gets it would be overkill to build them better that they are. They are durable, easy to maintain, and the drivetrain are so under stressed they can live for ever. You can buy a smaller van cab style bus but they are not much less expensive than a truck based school bus and the smaller drive trains and brakes wear out quicker. For what it does a school bus is a pretty good compromise of being good enough for it's job without being overly complicated or expensive.

I noticed some pretty serious side impact beams alongside the fuel tanks on one the other day.

wife thinks Im crazy because I always wanted to buy a school bus. That being said, for the life of me I can't understand why people are so amazingly stupid that they refuse to pass a school bus. Wait, I don't mean to say when the damn things are stopped with their little lights blinking and stop sign sticking out. I mean just as you're driving down a 4 lane road. Here in Cincinnati, I used to occasionally get off I71 and drive north on Kenwood Road (2 lanes each direction) to get to work. Inevitably there would be a school bus on the road. It would stop and do its thing. Then the person in front of me in the other lane would just refuse to pass the bus once it started moving again. So guess what, guess who got stopped behind the bus every block??????

ohmygod... Those horrid buses are what motivates me to keep my car running. Being 6'3" and having to ride those puppies the past two years of school was hell.

I hold this odd fact as truth in my life...

From kindergarten through college I lived in the same house. I was within walking distance to all the schools. I never rode a school bus or even lived far enough to have a school bus as an option.

plance1 wrote: wife thinks Im crazy because I always wanted to buy a school bus. That being said, for the life of me I can't understand why people are so amazingly stupid that they refuse to pass a school bus. Wait, I don't mean to say when the damn things are stopped with their little lights blinking and stop sign sticking out. I mean just as you're driving down a 4 lane road. Here in Cincinnati, I used to occasionally get off I71 and drive north on Kenwood Road (2 lanes each direction) to get to work. Inevitably there would be a school bus on the road. It would stop and do its thing. Then the person in front of me in the other lane would just refuse to pass the bus once it started moving again. So guess what, guess who got stopped behind the bus every block??????

even worse are the holier than thou IDIOTS that don't know the rules about passing a stopped school bus …

at least here in NC, if it's a divided highway (solid divide between opposing directions of traffic), you only stop if you're behind (as opposed to traveling towards) the bus

same if it's a 4 lane, with a dedicated turn lane … you only stop if the bus is traveling the same direction you are …

it's truly amazing how many idiots will slam on their brakes (when traveling opposite direction) in the above situations … and if you pass them, they'll try to catch up and give you hell for passing a stopped school bus

had someone do that to me, and threatened to call the Police … I begged them to do it … when the officer got there, he flat chewed their ass for not knowing the driving rules … even talked about suspending their driving privileges until the proved they could pass a standard driving test … it was all I could do to stand there and not laugh out loud

Rob_Mopar wrote:

mndsm wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Other than escape hatches in the roof I can't see any safety improvements. I would assume that ABS might have made it over, but then again..... I'll think about it some more when I have to get back on another one for the 6th grade trip tomorrow.

They have blinky lights and numbers on the roof now too.

Yea what's up with the strobe light up on the roof? It's seriously annoying in traffic.

Especially when it's dark out, and you end up focusing on that thing. Ugh. I've found myself trying to drive close enough to the bus that I can't see the light. Or sometimes I'll flash my high beams at the bus. Those lights are really annoying and dangerous.

Datsun1500 wrote: A school bus is actually a pretty safe vehicle, that is why they are pretty much the same. They are easily recognizable as a school bus, why change? You sit high, because it's safer. They are heavy, because it's safer.

Oh, you mean like an SUV?

ducks

On a Boston field trip when I was in school we had a kid puke on the bus floor just as we left the Museum to come home...

One kid poured his Mountain Dew into it to wash it away so every stop-and-go on the ride home we had to avoid the wave of watery vomit running under our seats.

THATS why they won't evolve, the gotta be hose out every so often!

School busses have come a LONG way since the '80s. We had a horrific crash here in KY lat one night when a drunk hit a school bus head on, on the interstate, at night. Lot of kids died that night because they couldn't get out in time. Now busses have extra escape hatches (sides and roof). They have much better shielding around their fuel tanks. I suspect they are all diesels now (used to be gasoline and more explosive).

The tour bus style would struggle with some of the rural roads that the higher riding "school bus" style can deal with easily.

And as mentioned, cost. Overbuilt chassis and powerplants will last longer (costing taxpayers less) than smaller/lighter/sleeker rigs.

One thing I see around here are more varied size busses than I saw as a kid. Like kind of mid size busses that sweep the routes where fewer kids live so they don't need the full size ones and pay for the wasted capacity.

Fleets of essentially identical vehicles must be easy to maintain.

School buses haven't evolved because the people who buy them are spending someone else's money on a vehicle that they, personally, will never ride in.

Actually, this explains most of what's wrong with American government.

Mitchell wrote: Fleets of essentially identical vehicles must be easy to maintain.

You would think that, after 6 years as a school bus mechanic I know the truth. Every year they seem to spec a different engine and then swap back and forth from one manufacturer to another to spread out the money. You end up with a fleet of buses that each require slightly different parts and have different problems. We end up with a huge parts inventory just to cover all the variations. 20-30 years ago things were simpler they were all pretty similar with only a few engine choices. I wish they still made them that simple. Now the new buses have AC, ABS, cheaper build quality, and all the diesel emissions crap that the truck market is dealing with implementing. It is about as good as emissions was in the 70's on cars. In other words not good.

wbjones wrote:

plance1 wrote:

even worse are the holier than thou IDIOTS that don't know the rules about passing a stopped school bus … at least here in NC, if it's a divided highway (solid divide between opposing directions of traffic), you only stop if you're behind (as opposed to traveling towards) the bus same if it's a 4 lane, with a dedicated turn lane … you only stop if the bus is traveling the same direction you are …

that is prob because in most states if it's not a divided HW you have to stop either direction... I get stopped by em about 3x a week on a 7 lane road (3 each direction and a turn)... if you are caught running that stop sign the ticket is around the tune of $1000 in these parts

as for updates in FL most of the buses where newer taller ones... at 6'4ish I could actually walk down the isle... they had taller seat backs, rear engines and a/c

here in Houston area they look a lot like the older ones but the more aero looking engine hood and the rear bumper section has a lot more of an angle... it seems this is a safety feature for the students when idiots not paying attention rear end the bus... the car simply slides under the bus killing the people in the car... but the kids are ok... it's happened a few times in the last few years around here... the other big change around here is that most of them are running LPG instead of diesel

ouch everyone on the bus was ok... the honda driver not so much

The strobe lights are helping people who can't see that big yellow thing.

Had it happen. Lady backed out of her driveway right into the rear corner of the bus I was driving, I was standing still. told the police officer she didn't see the bus as he handed her a ticket.

donalson wrote:

wbjones wrote:

plance1 wrote:

even worse are the holier than thou IDIOTS that don't know the rules about passing a stopped school bus … at least here in NC, if it's a divided highway (solid divide between opposing directions of traffic), you only stop if you're behind (as opposed to traveling towards) the bus same if it's a 4 lane, with a dedicated turn lane … you only stop if the bus is traveling the same direction you are …

that is prob because in most states if it's not a divided HW you have to stop either direction... I get stopped by em about 3x a week on a 7 lane road (3 each direction and a turn)... if you are caught running that stop sign the ticket is around the tune of $1000 in these parts

you're probably correct … but these are mostly locals (I've never seen an out of state tag stopped when they're not supposed to be) … especially in the morning, I'd bet it's 90+% locals …since the buses run during "rush" hour …

to get their drivers licenses, they're supposed to know this

in NJ there has to be a physical divider for traffic not to have to stop. people going the other way still stop. I guess it is better than them flying through illegally

In MA you have to stop if it's just paint lines dividing the road.

It's a good thing too, half these kids have to cross the road to get to thier house.

(Just found out we have to pay $425.00 for two kids to ride the bus next year because we live ONE HOUSE too close to the school, like literally 200 feet too close)