Rick, then I sit corrected. NYS (at least at one time) called it School Bus Chrome. But the constitution says that the feds trump the states, so you win!
[Grinny here]
Additionally, when I was a kid they were all-over yellow, but not any more.
Lately I’ve noticed that the roofs of more and more school buses are painted white. Does anybody know why?
Visibility, or to prevent overheating, I suspect. Many buses also seem to have that ANNOYING white strobe on the roof. Drives me nuts when I have to follow a bus for too long and it’s in view.
Some school boards in canada own their own buses, though these aren’t all that common. I know that the school board which runs the schools I went to owned their own fleet, and maintained them pretty well. It was a huge expense at the time, but now I think the board is seeing the benefits of lower cost when it comes to being able to provide transportation for special events/trips. I’m guessing a little by saying that, but I’ve never heard any talk of selling the fleet, so its not a loss of money for them.
The “short bus” that I’m talking about doesn’t go to a special school. It’s for “special” students who have been mainstreamed into regular public schools. Since these kids lived in the district, there was also a regular-sized bus that also came around to pick up the other kids who lived nearby to go to the same building.
So, why run a special bus? Is it because they’re afraid that these kids would get picked on by the other bus riders, or is there another reason?
I don’t remember anyone talking about the “short bus” when I was in high school, either…but, if you had, I’m sure that people would have known what you were talking about.
One of the more famous school buses, Furthur, was a 1939 International Harvester.
I think that first photo is actually a re-make of the original, because it appears as if the name is misspelled. Or correctly spelled, depending on what drugs you’re not on.
However, the same reality applies whether the school is separate or the kids are identified separately: it is, for the most part, a phenomenon that only became widespread in the 1970s and later. Prior to that time, special needs kids were rarely educated by the public schools.
As to why a special bus was used to get them to the same bulding? It probably varies from one school district to another. Avoiding harrassment would certainly be an impetus. There are also cases where the kids have physical impairments, so supplying a special bus with an aid means that the regular buses do not have to each carry an aid (and that the schedules for those busses do not need to be adjusted to compensate for slower loading and unloading times). In addition, the specials busses nearly always stop at the kids’ houses while (in my part of the world) the “regular” kids are often told to wait at a nearby cross-street and their busses do not stop at each house.
They really have to <i>stop</i>? Here in Germany, when a bus stops and the driver puts on the hazard warning flasher (is that the word I mean?) you are not allowed to overtake the bus. When it comes to a full stop you are allowed pass the bus at walking speed (3-7 km/h) give passengers right of way regardless of what kind of bus it is. And it usually works. When it set its left flasher it has rigth of way and you have to wait for the behemoth (sp?) to accelerate to normal trafic speed again. Man, I hate driving behind busses (though I understand these are sensible traffic laws).
Second hijacked thread today, sorry for that.
Just to add a little to the OP: In Germany we have a similar system as in Australia (on the right side of the road though). Just normal busses, sometimes with a “Schulbus” sign added, but not even that necessarily.
Yep… Complete halt and no passing in either direction.* It can make driving down a rural road a really slow experience. In suburbs and cities, the bus is more likely to turn off after a block or two, but on the country roads, the blocks are likely to be a mile long.
- In some states, you may ignore the bus if you are on a dual lane/divided highway and it is oncoming, but following traffic must never pass.
I can say when they didn’t look like that. My dad rode to public school in Louisville, Kentucky in the late 30’s/early 40’s. The bus which picked them up was just a flat-bed truck with pieces of tin nailed over it.
My kids’ granny, who went to school in rural Mississippi during the same era, rode to school with a kid who was allowed to take two horses and a wagon to school. He picked up all the kids he could on his way to school; they turned the horses out to graze during school time; then harnessed 'em back up for the ride home.