National School Bus Safety Week

The weather is trending cooler. The days are getting shorter. The leaves are turning colors.

Autumn is a season of change, when we bid a bittersweet goodbye to summer and prepare for winter.

Fall is also one of the busiest times of the year for the school bus industry as we help our customers welcome back their students to the classroom, resume their routes, and settle into the school year.

With school now back in session, students in more than 700 school districts across North America are experiencing another change: a quieter, cleaner, more sustainable ride.

Despite all these changes, there is one constant for us in student transportation: our commitment to safety.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) reports that the school bus industry has deployed nearly 5,000 electric school buses to more than 800 school districts and fleet operators across 52 states and U.S. territories. IC Bus alone has built more than 1,000 of these electric buses which have driven more than 5 million miles.

Why do customers trust school bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like IC Bus, LLC (IC Bus) with their electrification transition? Because of our success in enhancing school bus safety. School buses are 70 times safer than any other method of transportation thanks to cooperation with two entities. First, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which creates and enforces the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in the U.S. They have written extensive and strict regulations for all motor vehicles, like motorcycles, cars, trucks, and school buses, which are the most highly regulated vehicles on the road.

The second entity is the National School Transportation Specification and Procedures (NSTSP), which focuses on the school bus industry and is administered by the National Congress on School Transportation. In 1939, they set uniform standards for construction, materials, and system requirements, which are updated every five years.

This combination of federal standards, which are largely adopted by states, has resulted in the school bus industry’s strong safety record. These standards have served us well. However, we cannot trust that they are sufficient for the next generation of student transportation – the electric school bus. As leaders in student transportation, we must stand up to proactively work together and recommend standards and bid specifications for electric school buses. Without these expectations, the safety and construction standards of the past could be overlooked. By uniting as an industry and agreeing on safety and specification standards, our customers take top priority and can have faith that battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) will deliver the same protection and peace of mind they expect.

We’re starting to see the industry move towards implementing safety standards and bid specifications. Recently, NHTSA published an Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for FMVSS 305a and solicited comments on comprehensive safety measures specific to electric school buses. We’re waiting for the results and anticipate that FMVSS 305a will focus on post-crash safety measures, documentation requirements, and rescue tactics to mitigate the risk of fatalities and crashes involving electric school buses. The outcome will likely reflect the feedback of companies like IC Bus, that provided comments on the rule as part of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), of which International Motors, LLC* (International), the parent of IC Bus, is a member. Our involvement demonstrates the commitment we make to the safety and protection of the customers and students we transport each day.

These steps are proof that federal agencies recognize the need for standards in support of safety. They understand that with BEVs, everything is different: the sales process, construction, parts, storage, service, and maintenance. With so many variances, we cannot assume that the traditional standards for safety will be the same in an electric school bus.

We are seeing some one-off changes and updates to electric specification requirements. The question is: are we aligned?

It is time for the school bus industry to unite and reexamine these standards and define specification requirements as a group. We must focus our efforts on safely transporting our children. With so many electric school buses now on the road, it is crucial we ensure the same level of safety and integrity for them as the traditional school bus.

Beyond the bus, we must clearly define expectations for training. Not only for the driver, but also the technicians who service these vehicles, our dealers, and our customers. BEVs represent a massive investment for our customers. We need guidelines for how these assets and employees are protected in the facilities where they are housed.

International stood up a dealer certification process to ensure International and IC Bus dealers are prepared to service electric school buses. More than 30% of our dealers, representing over 100 locations in 41 states and seven Canadian provinces, revamped their facilities, invested in new equipment, and educated their service and sales staff through extensive BEV training. Are our contractors and school districts making the same preparations? Is everyone within the school bus industry ready and willing to make this same commitment? As we move forward, we need universal requirements for our customers that define the protocols they must follow.

IC Bus is not alone in this thought. This summer, the WRI collaborated with OEMs, customers, utilities, and associations to publish electric school bus training standards. The 30-page document dictates the core competencies which anyone working with an electric school bus needs to know to safely perform their duties. A united front like this on BEVs is crucial because the success of zero-emissions transportation transition is all our responsibility.

Everyone within the school bus industry is responsible for reshaping student transportation by collaborating and leading. We must be drivers of change who leverage our expertise of student transportation to shape the safety standards and bid specifications which the next generation of school buses desperately need. Let’s be clear. These uniform standards and specifications should not be in the best interest of OEMs, suppliers or vendors. Rather, they should be what is best for our school districts, our customers, and most importantly for the safety of our children.

During National School Bus Safety Week, parents, students, teachers, motorists, school bus operators, administrators, vendors, suppliers, and contractors unite to address the importance of school bus safety. These collaborative efforts provide suggestions to protect our children in and around their school buses. It’s a wonderful campaign and I’m proud to lend my voice to these initiatives as they elevate the school bus transportation industry.

I am calling on you, regulators, other OEMs, customers, associations, suppliers and all who are involved in student transportation to be part of this movement and offer recommendations for new regulations within student transportation. Join me, connect with me, and jump start the conversation on standards and bid specifications for electric school buses.

Just as we all unite to advance student transportation during National School Bus Safety Week, we must come together as school bus industry leaders and pave a better path for BEVs and ensure the safety of our customers riding them into the future.