ome at a greater expense, about $150 more per unit when installed at the factory. But, Tom Turner of Blue Bird Body Company speculates, as the volume goes up, the unit prices will come down (Hirano, LEDsp.2).Outside of bus options, fuel prices have had a substantial effect on state school bus programs. With the increased price of fuel, bus operators fuel allowances are not covering fuel expenses. Therefore, cuts must be made in other areas in order to keep buses running. Nationwide, there are more than 435,000 school buses carrying approximately 22,500,000 children every day. Quite often, the programs that absorb the cuts are the safety programs for bus operators. Typically bus operators are paid to attend certain safety classes. After cuts, these classes are offered on a volunteer basis meaning those who need to attend most probably will not; now the safety of millions of children are at stake. One way to try to offset higher fuel budgeting, for the long run, is to buy new, more fuel-efficient buses. New buses will also reduce costs in maintenance and labor and provide the most current safety measures. Transportation budgeting problems also makes it difficult to award drivers with pay increases. This contributes to the on-going shortage of bus drivers. The average hourly wage of bus drivers was $10.76 as determined by a survey of school bus contractors published in the June/July 2000 issue (Annualp. 2) of School Bus Fleet.As for school bus sales, in the United States bus sales reached its highest units sold in 1999; 42,341. This beat the previous high sales record of 40,327 units sold in 1974, according to School Bus Fleet records. Sales hit a low in 1992 with only 28,564 units being sold, but then steadily increased through 1996. Sales dropped in 1997 but jumped back up in 1998, 703 units above those sold in 1996. As illustrated, the economy plays a major role in the school bus industry. With rising prices, and state s...
