Grumpy Editor

Some cash-strapped states moving to allow school bus ads

With heavy cuts in school budgets around the nation, more school districts are eyeing school buses as a source of revenue from placement of advertisements, notes Grumpy Editor.

They figure if many municipal buses can carry commercial moving messages, why not the same for the big yellow buses.

Latest region to consider ads on school buses is Washington state. 

An Associated Press tally shows the concept also is being considered in Ohio, New Jersey and Utah.

States already allowing school bus ads include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.

Strangely, California, especially hard hit with a drop in revenue, is frowning on the idea.

Despite ads on other vehicles, from plumbers to taxis, plus billboards along city roads and freeways, John Green, supervisor for school transportation at the California Department of Education, tells AP that ads on school buses distract drivers and lead to accidents.

On the other hand, Jim O'Connell, president of Media-Aim of Scottsdale, Ariz., says school bus advertising can be lucrative and in five years of selling the ads for more than 30 districts in Colorado and Arizona, he's never once heard of an accident tied to bus advertising.

The Mississippi Senate earlier this month killed a bill that would have allowed ads inside or outside school buses. 

School bus ad supporters say it’s an innovative way for districts to generate money in tight times.

Opponents claim children shouldn't be exposed to advertising in a setting where they're not supervised by parents.

Perhaps those parents don’t have the Cartoon Network or Disney Channel --- with ample exposure to commercial breaks --- at home.

Hybrid school buses gain use as education budgets drop

With most of the nation’s school districts facing reduced budgets leading to cuts in staffs, classes and activities, one area --- not dealing with educating students --- is getting a boost, and securing funds is no problem, finds Grumpy Editor.

It’s going green, as with new bio-diesel electric hybrid school buses. 

While green buses are getting green lights, some school districts are shortening education days.

School districts in at least 17 states are moving to a four-day week “in a shift they hope will help close gaping budget holes,” notes a front page story today in The Wall Street Journal.
 

Yet that doesn't deter other school districts from adding the green vehicles.   Much of the funds for the new buses come from state and federal grants.

Such buses come with price tags of $170,000 and up (an Iowa school district paid $217,000 for its green buses) vs. $120,000 for conventional versions.

South Carolina, which jumped into hybrid technology in 2007, reveals in an announcement last Tuesday that it will triple the number of diesel electric hybrids in transporting students.  The state, with a school bus fleet already 5 percent bio-diesel, plans a transition to 20 percent bio-diesel in the future.

A conventional school bus uses more than 1,700 gallons of fuel annually while the average hybrid school bus consumes around 600, tallies IC Bus, a subsidiary of Navistar, Inc., among companies that produce hybrids.

Bio-diesel buses get nine to 11 miles a gallon, compared with about six miles per gallon with vehicles they are replacing.

That means it will take 20 years or more to realize a return through fuel savings on the higher per-vehicle cost --- something not getting attention in media coverage.

Green buses, which require more attention in maintenance, feature electric drive trains that can move the vehicles at street speeds.  Diesel engines take over at higher speeds.