Driving Bus 9

1996 Blue Bird TC2000FE.

[@676094]

Ah makes sense. Im going to put it out there, that I enjoy your videos and im jealous of you, for living in a beautiful part of Michigan. I live in Algonquin IL, and its mostly developed with malls... upper scale homes, (yes our tax dollars pay for very nice school buses, equipped with a/c so the little brats don't sweat LOL) theirs not much for scenery.. out there, its totally opposite the scenery is really nice. I was out in Bridgeman last summer.. fell in love with right then and there.

[@676094]

I go lost In Colon last october, looking for a pumpkin farm, and apple fields.. haha go figure!! It truly is nice around there. I'm thinking of moving up there. It would involve a career change, but it may be worth it. The school district here (community unit school district 300) witch dominates northern Illinois, are literally taking us out of here. all their new, or refurbished schools (26 of them) and dozens upon dozens of newer Blue Bluebird Tc2000's, fully equipped, along with International

[@ICFE300]

Thanks! It is a very beautiful part of Michigan. Colon is surrounded by lakes so we have a lot of very up scale homes, but on the other side of that we have a lot of lower income homes as well, and 3 or 4 trailer parks. We are in the process of getting our schools updated, for the first time since the 1960's also, so hopefully we will see a boost in enrollment because of that. We only have one bus with A/C, our special needs bus, it is indeed very nice.

[@ICFE300]

Holy cow! 200 Buses! We have 16 total, biggest fleet in the county has 33. A five year turn around on buses? That's just insane! We used to keep our buses 16 years, which is pushing them a bit for a Northern state. Now we keep them 20+ years. We are so far behind on replacing older buses that it would take a bond to dig us out of the hole we are in. Budget cuts have hit us hard.

[@676094]

curiously, why do you put your vid cam down? do people out there report you if they see you with it?

[@09ThomasEF]

40 on a dirt road in a bus? Yikes! I hate going past 20 in my car because of the vibration and potholes. :-P But our dirt roads aren't so nice and straight and open.

[@ICFE300]

Their mileages are getting up there, but only 1 of them has over 200K, so far. As far as safety, they still pass state police inspections, so they are good to go. Burr Oak has a 1991 Blue Bird International with over 300K still on the road.

[@676094]

Wow thats really pushing those buses! I got a confirmed fleet count at 213 buses, Which serve all 26 school and around 21,000 kids. Our high schools Jacobs and Dundee crown, hold a population of around 3000 each, while a brand new high school, Hampshire high, holds, 380. spent 30 million to build the school, and the housing boom bust, and the school sat empty from 2007 till this fall. Our district should split into two districts, but the superintendent refuses to go that route. We usually have

[@KodieS]

That bus seems to hold its gears for a really long time, especially during the 3:55 acceleration.

[@ICFE300]

@09ThomasEF Wait until you see my next bus 9 video. Not such a nice dirt road.

[@676094]

built Thomas 72 pass. buses cost us a fortune. their are easily 200 buses in their fleet.. they like to hit us for referendums.. and more referendums.. average tax bill around is is 12k a year.. nuts! Whats the average age of your bus fleet? ours is three years. seems like the district gets a new fleet after five years here. Ill have to get some video of the bus yard for you. it's madness lol

[@676094]

some sort of referendum every three years. We are due for another one, because the state is so behind in reimbursing our district of tax funds and so forth. I talked to my old bus driver Wayne, and he said every 5 years they get a new fleet, more or less because the affluent residents dont want their kids on crappy old buses, and the drivers want modern and comfortable buses too. They make an average of 18 an hour, and work 7 hours a day on a tier schedule. but yeah, 213 buses.. makes sense,

[@676094]

because they have 3 bus lots bunker hill, the main office, and hampshire middle.. haha You'd have your mind blown when you see them all, thats for sure. haha. 16 years.. 20 + years?... isnt that a safety issue? so your fleet must have above and beyond 200k miles on them?

[@ICFE300]

I've never been reported, nor do I want to be. Also my arm gets tired holding it up in the air like that so I have to put it down. For those reasons I have since invested in a camera mount, so I don't have to worry about holding the camera.