Rogers School Board Approves Buying Used Buses

ROGERS -- A few buses from Arizona will join the Rogers School District fleet by the end of January.

The School Board approved buying three used buses for $56,900 on Tuesday.

Administrators will look at buying new buses also this year, said Jim White, chief operations officer.

White said he won't know for certain the final cost of the used buses until they are delivered and mechanics go over them. If there's $400,000 left that could mean another three or four new buses, depending on bids, he said.

In the next two months administrators will look at requesting bids for new buses based on how much is left after retrofitting the used ones, White said.

Board members asked if administrators have purchased used buses before. Two years ago they did, White said.

The buses were already in the budget, said Jerry Carmichael, board president.

Used buses save money -- if they're in good shape, said Ron Young, transportation director.

"We see lots of used buses, but we pass up most of them," he said.

Buses from the north or northeast parts of the country are plentiful, but they can be rusty from road salt.

Some school districts lease buses on three-year rotations. The buses Rogers will buy come from a lease in Arizona.

That will mean some changes. The company selling the buses will letter them, install strobe lights and a crossing gate, per Arkansas standards and install a dryer in the air brake system -- something unnecessary in less humid Arizona.

Rogers will probably put heated mirrors on the buses to keep the view clear and add an alarm system requiring the driver to walk to the back of the bus and turn it off after shutting off the ignition. All drivers are required to walk the bus and check for children remaining on the bus, Young said.

Young estimates a new bus to cost more than $100,000. The used buses have 70,000 to 80,000 miles, but the district has several with 200,000 miles, Young said.

"If we've got something with 70,000 miles we can put it on the road for lots of years," he said.

A new bus will take time to order, but the used buses will be on Rogers streets by the end of January, Young said.

New buses to be ordered later would be replacement buses, White said.

Rogers may need to retire some buses from the fleet, Young said. The district's oldest bus is a 1992 model. Buying a mix of used and new buses rotates new buses into the district's fleet and allows for growth, he said.

Many Rogers buses are 77 passenger and the used buses will be 83 passenger. That doesn't necessarily mean more kids on one bus, but maybe spreading them out a little more, Young said.

"It may be the same number of kids but it's more comfortable," he said.

In other business the board approved a $310,696 property insurance policy and a $2,752 general liability policy covering prekindergarten. The property insurance price was unchanged other than adding two tractors and 7,000 square feet at the Annex, White said.