Whats up with school busses? They seem to be the dirtiest things on the road, ever? Deisel and gas.
Do they not do any engine maintenence ever?
The 84 300d i had puked cleaner exhaust(eye test)
Behind one today reminded me of the 70s making the trip to Haymarket sq in Boston with my grandfather and the mbta bus would pass with the huge black cloud behind it.
In reply to lrrs :
It's for the chiiiiildren so it's ok
In reply to mdshaw :
I've seen so many near accidents because of school bus drivers I've thought of getting a dash cam just for them.
In reply to Stampie :
Funny. I see so many selfish drivers doing silly things to get around school busses. I also frequently call the local police and let them know that people are speeding in school zones so they can set up radar and apprehend the criminals.
I'm sure it depends on the district/bus co. but I can attest to the fact that the regulations surrounding school bus maintenance are really strict in any of the states I drove buses in. If you have a turn signal bulb blown, it's 4 minutes to replace the bulb and 30 minutes of paperwork to the state.
It's possible the bus blew a turbo hose on that day, but right now that bus company is in full-on "oh crap" mode knowing that the tech will probably be there until 11pm fixing it so it can go out at 6am tomorrow. When I was driving, we paid a lot of money for an FCC license to operate high-powered radios in the buses. We were required to call back to base if we encountered a problem so they could call in appropriate techs. When I got back to base, I didn't refuel or go to the wash bay, they were standing in the parking lot and they just took the bus from me and went straight to the repair bay.
Yeah reading this thread made me realize- I've literally never seen a bus broken down or in disrepair, except for when I was in grade school and we blew a tire while taking all us kids home.
if you want to see badly serviced USA school buses go down to Central America where our old school buses go to die !
Guatamala city had old school buses for the city buses , billowing smoke thru out the downtown ,
I wonder if they ever replaced them ?
I work for a municipality, and can simply add that the hiring of competent personel has not yet recovered from Covid (opinion). This includes mechanics, bus drivers, ditch diggers, etc.
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
That is quite possible. Around here, if you don't see a "now hiring" sign on a business, it's noteworthy.
I also remember in CA, the laws for bus use were pretty lax. Ironic considering their concern for their visible air quality. Here in PA you can only use a school bus for 10 years as a regular/daily use piece. After 10 you can use it as a spare, but it can't be assigned to a daily route. In SoCal there are old 2-stroke buses from the 50s and 60s still belching smoke... unless that has changed since I lived there.
Last year we had a bus (single bus) lose a wheel twice in one week.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
In SoCal there are old 2-stroke buses from the 50s and 60s still belching smoke... unless that has changed since I lived there.
I'd be very surprised if this was the case today.
Stampie said:In reply to mdshaw :
I've seen so many near accidents because of school bus drivers I've thought of getting a dash cam just for them.
The other day a school bus going the other direction stopped and I began to slow down, anticipating the sign swinging out. No sign was forthcoming so I assumed she was letting me go by first so I accelerated and waved. At the same time, a car behind her went around her. The bus driver started honking and visibly losing her mind at the both of us. Then I saw there were kids filing off but she'd not deployed the stop sign. I clenched up a little bit assuming I was in for a ticket. To protect my good name [wallet] I did a little bit of proactive calling to the school district about how bus #12 was letting off the kids unsafely. I sure hope I don't get a letter in the mail about this from the local PD.
Also-- as a kid I thought I'd observed that the door and the stop sign were connected??
Haven't observed that, dirtiest thing I still see is dump trucks...
P3PPY said:Stampie said:In reply to mdshaw :
I've seen so many near accidents because of school bus drivers I've thought of getting a dash cam just for them.
The other day a school bus going the other direction stopped and I began to slow down, anticipating the sign swinging out. No sign was forthcoming so I assumed she was letting me go by first so I accelerated and waved. At the same time, a car behind her went around her. The bus driver started honking and visibly losing her mind at the both of us. Then I saw there were kids filing off but she'd not deployed the stop sign. I clenched up a little bit assuming I was in for a ticket. To protect my good name [wallet] I did a little bit of proactive calling to the school district about how bus #12 was letting off the kids unsafely. I sure hope I don't get a letter in the mail about this from the local PD.
Also-- as a kid I thought I'd observed that the door and the stop sign were connected??
The flip-out stop sign is triggered by the same relay as the flashing lights. The relay activates a solenoid valve sending air pressure to a little airbag that pushes the sign out.
The most likely thing is that the driver forgot to turn on the master switch for the signal lights. Drivers are supposed to turn on a switch when the kids get on that powers up the light system and turns on the rotating beacon (the flashing light on top of the bus). Without that switch being on, the lights don't work and the sign doesn't pop out.
The process is to turn on the master switch. When approaching a kid stop, you push a button which turns the flashing yellows on. Then when the door opens, a second switch in the handle automatically turns on the reds and deploys the sign on the side.
Forgetting the switch has happened to me. My first stop in the afternoon, a dump truck blew right past me and I laid on the horn. The parent informed me that my lights weren't flashing. I felt like such a failure. The flasher for the flashing lights is required to be mounted to a place that it's annoyingly audible. If you push the button and don't hear the ticking, it's supposed to flick your brain reminding you something's wrong. Problem is, with a load of screaming kindergarten kids that you're watching with the eyes in the back of your head, the hyper-awareness of driving a 40-foot vehicle with 65 innocent souls on board, sometimes your mind doesn't feel the flick.
JY_Rat said:Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
In SoCal there are old 2-stroke buses from the 50s and 60s still belching smoke... unless that has changed since I lived there.
I'd be very surprised if this was the case today.
They replaced almost all of them with CNG, allowing very limited use of older busses to take sports teams to games out of CNG range. They auctioned many of them until CA gave a credit for crushing.
I did see a 70's Supercoach bringing a team to Flagstaff half a dozen years ago.
One of our local busses lost the entire drive axle a few years ago. He braked, the axle stopped and the rest of the bus continued forward.
I haven't seen many heavy diesels smoke except under heavy load in years. Modern computers do an impressive job of keeping them in check.
GIRTHQUAKE said:Yeah reading this thread made me realize- I've literally never seen a bus broken down or in disrepair, except for when I was in grade school and we blew a tire while taking all us kids home.
Nothing more intense than a broken bus with nuns wearing Chuck Taylor's
Our school buses are propane or natural gas. They seem to be just fine.
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