Why I’ve never seen a school bus with rust. 
January 22, 2014 at 9:35 am
#1356714
Makes me wonder why????????????????
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January 22, 2014 at 9:37 am #1381746
Good point!
January 22, 2014 at 9:40 am #1381747How many govt vehicles are used long enough to rust? They just replace them with unlimited funds.
January 22, 2014 at 9:52 am #1381751My wife drove school bus for 20 years. You have to go to smaller school dist. to see him. Believe me if a school owns it own bus’s you will see rusty ones. The school dist now leasts the buses now and they are all new buses every year.
bus drivers say happy,happyJanuary 22, 2014 at 10:16 am #1381759It’s rare because they are driven so many miles. Most have too many miles and become unreliable before there’s time for rust to set in.
January 22, 2014 at 10:23 am #1381761Maybe you’re not looking in the right places?
January 22, 2014 at 10:50 am #1381769Quote:
Second, whenever the operating and maintenance expenses on a school bus, or group of school buses, reaches a certain level, it appears that the better economic decision would be to purchase a new bus rather than continue to maintain the older school bus. This is the classical cost/benefit analysis. Do the benefits of buying a new school bus offset the costs?
It is widely accepted that it is more costly to operate and maintain older school buses than newer school buses. However, the vehicle age at which the total operating costs of an older bus versus a newer bus becomes intolerable is not an exact science. In the mid-1980s, independent studies of annual school bus operating costs were conducted in California and Washington. Both studies reached the same conclusion – after 12 years of use, the annual operating costs of Type C and D school buses began to increase significantly and continued an annual increase each year thereafter.
January 22, 2014 at 11:36 am #1381789Just wondering when will those funds arrive, and who to contact about getting them
January 22, 2014 at 12:09 pm #1381798Fire trucks are never rusty either, neither are police cars.. etc.
January 22, 2014 at 1:55 pm #1381835Quote:
Fire trucks are never rusty either, neither are police cars.. etc.
. Have you ever priced out a firetruck, trust me they get washed everytime they touch a salty road. Plus most small towns need to make them last 30 yrs
January 22, 2014 at 1:58 pm #1381837Quote:
Fire trucks are never rusty either, neither are police cars.. etc.
They all get washed and taken care of every day. Police cars are run through the car wash after every 2nd shift in the winter. Fire trucks are washed every afternoon unless they are busy. Lives depend on them being in tip top shape.
School buses are washed at the district wash very regularly as well. I cannot say every day, but probably pretty close to that. They only last for 5-6 years before they are decommissioned for safety and economical reasons.
January 22, 2014 at 3:07 pm #1381852The city of Hastings still uses their ladder truck that is from 1976. They are finally replacing it and I believe the cost is a cool $1 million.
I have never seen a dirty fire truck
January 22, 2014 at 3:14 pm #1381855Most other state vehicles are leased from a separate state organization (run by Dept. of Administration – I think?) that is called “Travel Management.” All other agencies lease vehicles from that unit of government and pay a monthly fee to have/drive the vehicle. They have to follow mandated maintenance/PM schedules per the lease. Generally, the leased vehicles is then traded off after 90,000 miles are logged onto it. This doesn’t always happen though because some agencies drive very little and some drive a lot. I turn 100K miles easy in 3 years on mine, so I usually get a new leased vehicle every 3-4 years. With that lease, we are mandated to care for the vehicle as if it is our own. I wash mine when it really needs it, but not more than once every week or every other week. Sometimes it goes for weeks without a wash though, depending on weather and where I have to go with it.
Anyone can bid on the resale of these vehicles from the Travel Management auctions (Google it). The state then buys in fleet bulk of a certain kind of vehicle every year for replacements. As a driver, you basically get what they get dealt with in the bulk fleet purchase (normally 4-6 different types of vehicles).
as far as buying a used one, remember, the agency that runs this does VERY LITTLE pm/maintenance. Oils at 5’s, air filter at 30, tire rotations at 20’s and nothing else unless it breaks. By the time it hits 100K, everything generally needs to be fixed, because there is no preventative maintenance done.
…..And now you know the rest of the story.
January 22, 2014 at 3:23 pm #1381857Quote:
Fire trucks are never rusty either, neither are police cars.. etc.
I used to work for a County Public Works/Highway Department.
Sheriff’s Vehicles after 130,000-150,000 got pushed down the ladder so to speak. Either to Detectives, then to County Engineer & Engineering staff, Parks Director & Parks staff, Social Services Director & staff. They had all seen their 9-lives before the County got rid of them. The Sheriff had 3-Full-time Mechanics that maintained ALL of the County Vehicles.
In 1994 I occasionally drove a very Rusty 86 Buick Century with 300,000+ miles got retired when I reported a bad shimmy while driving 169 & 694 (Scary ride) to Arden Hills for a training day.We then got a 93 Crown Victoria with 180,000. That was still there when I left in 2002 with 250,000+ miles, still running good, but rusty.
January 23, 2014 at 12:06 pm #1382166Hey Brian, find out that rusty bus yet?
January 23, 2014 at 12:13 pm #1382170maybe it would help him out if somebody who knows of one would supply GPS coordinates
January 23, 2014 at 1:18 pm #1382193Geez………..what did I start here???
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