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84-seat bus now on the road
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · October 09, 2014


West Branch schools’ biggest-ever bus now roams the streets.


The 84-seat Hoglund arrived Sept. 16, and the school district’s transportation director, Joe Lande, needed about a week to get the registration and plates before putting it to work

“It’s quiet, it turns nice and it has a little different feel” than the 72-seaters, he said.

And, surprisingly, it boasts better gas mileage than the 72-seaters, Superintendent Kevin Hatfield said. The 72-seat buses get 5.5 to 6.5 miles per gallon, the 84-seat bus gets about 9.8 mpg.

Bus driver Tammy Oaks takes the bus on her route that includes West Branch Village, which picks up the most children. Lande, she and fellow bus driver Amber Stubbs first took it around town to test it on curves, corners, slopes and the speed bumps.

Lande wants to keep it off gravel roads as much as possible, but also tested on the highway.

The flat-fronted bus looks like a city bus or a charter bus. It’s engine compartment is in the rear, partly under the rear seats. Lande said it measures roughly 41 feet, 5 inches long with the mirrors. The longest 72-seat bus in the fleet is 40 feet, 3 inches. Both the 84-seat and 72-seat buses have a 276-inch wheel base.

Lande said the extra foot does not make it any more difficult to turn around in the high school’s softball parking lot, which requires other buses to back up to get out. The softball lot was the temporary drop-off until the new west parking lot was opened Tuesday.

West Branch Community Schools purchased the bus for $122,100 and ordered it in April. Hatfield said the bus was due for delivery about a month earlier, but “it’s nice to get it.”

It comes with a large compartment between the front and rear wheels, a stop-arm camera, an interior camera and it is the only full-sized bus with air conditioning — which added $10,000 to the cost.

Stubbs noted that the stop-arm camera should help deter passing buses. Now that they can collect license plate numbers more easily, the up to $500 fine, increased insurance costs and month-long loss of license punishments ought to make people think twice.

“It’s a bigger penalty than some people think it is,” she said of the consequences.

Hatfield said the large compartment will cut down on the number of trips where two buses were necessary before. Lande has been asked to track the number of times the new bus makes it unnecessary to take two buses.

“It has a lot of pluses,” Hatfield said.

There is also a heater in the back of the bus; other bus heating systems make the front warm but do not heat the rear of the bus very well, he said.

Hatfield also said the extra escape door midway down the bus will make it safer, too.

Of the 12 other buses in West Branch’s fleet — which range from four to 26 years old — one carries 36 passengers, nine carry 65 passengers, and two carry 72 passengers.

Now that the new bus is in use, West Branch schools plan to sell one of the older buses that is no longer needed.