THE HISTORY
A school bus is a type of bus specifically designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying students to and from school and school events. In the United States, school buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips every year, over half of the country's student population is transported by school bus. Each school day in 2013, nearly 468,000 school buses transported 28.8 million children to and from school and school-related activities;.
School buses in North America are distinguished from other bus types by design characteristics necessitated by federal and state regulations. Federal safety standards in the United States and Canada require school buses to be painted school bus yellow and to be equipped with specific warning and safety devices.
Outside North America, the term can often be applied to an ordinary bus used for a school service or an older bus or coach retrofitted to become a dedicated school bus; the term "school bus" often is applied to bus routes assigned for the purposes of student transport as well.
19th century-1930: Early school vehicles
Kid hacks
A school bus from 1912.
Wayne Works, predecessor of Wayne Corporation, was founded in the United States in 1837. By the mid-1880s, it is known that the company manufactured horse-drawn school carriages colloquially referred to as "school hacks", "school cars", "school trucks", or "kid hacks". ("hack" was a term for certain types of horse-drawn carriages.)
Initial "horseless" school buses retained the rear entry of the kid hacks (a feature designed as to not startle the horses when loading or unloading passengers). Inside, many kid hacks and early school buses had perimeter seating with benches mounted to the outside walls of the vehicle. Early school buses served predominantly rural areas where it was deemed impractical for students to walk the distances necessary to get back and forth from school on their own. Like the kid hacks, they were essentially no more than a truck with a tarpaulin stretched over the truck bed.
Enclosed school buses
Wayne Works was one of the first manufacturers to offer glass windows in place of roll-up canvas curtains in the passenger compartment in the early 1920s, although Gillig Bros had invented and patented the design long before. Known as the "California top", Gillig's design featured a slightly curved reinforced metal roof, with windows separated by pillars at regular intervals, and each window was adjustable by the use of a latching mechanism. Other manufacturers continued using curtains until the 1930s. Wayne began manufacturing its first model of all-steel body school buses in 1930. Crown Coach followed in 1932 with its steel-bodied transit-style Crown Supercoach. The Supercoach was the highest-capacity school bus at the time, seating 76 passengers
Kid hacks
A school bus from 1912.
Wayne Works, predecessor of Wayne Corporation, was founded in the United States in 1837. By the mid-1880s, it is known that the company manufactured horse-drawn school carriages colloquially referred to as "school hacks", "school cars", "school trucks", or "kid hacks". ("hack" was a term for certain types of horse-drawn carriages.)
Initial "horseless" school buses retained the rear entry of the kid hacks (a feature designed as to not startle the horses when loading or unloading passengers). Inside, many kid hacks and early school buses had perimeter seating with benches mounted to the outside walls of the vehicle. Early school buses served predominantly rural areas where it was deemed impractical for students to walk the distances necessary to get back and forth from school on their own. Like the kid hacks, they were essentially no more than a truck with a tarpaulin stretched over the truck bed.
Enclosed school buses
Wayne Works was one of the first manufacturers to offer glass windows in place of roll-up canvas curtains in the passenger compartment in the early 1920s, although Gillig Bros had invented and patented the design long before. Known as the "California top", Gillig's design featured a slightly curved reinforced metal roof, with windows separated by pillars at regular intervals, and each window was adjustable by the use of a latching mechanism. Other manufacturers continued using curtains until the 1930s. Wayne began manufacturing its first model of all-steel body school buses in 1930. Crown Coach followed in 1932 with its steel-bodied transit-style Crown Supercoach. The Supercoach was the highest-capacity school bus at the time, seating 76 passengers
1930-1945: Industry standardization
Late 1930s school bus
The 1930s marked an era of major change in school bus design. Previously an adaptation of existing vehicles(wagons, carriages, trucks), school buses buses were evolving into a distinct vehicle type all their own. The "California top" introduced by Gillig became a design that was adopted industry-wide. As it was becoming popular in other places in the automotive industry, all-metal body construction became featured by manufacturers as the decade progressed.
Enabling mass production
The custom-built nature of school buses created an obstacle to their profitable mass production on a large scale. Although school buses had begun to evolve from wagons, there was not yet an agreed upon set of industry-wide standards for school buses. A 1939 conference at Teachers College, Columbia University organized by rural education expert Dr. Frank W. Cyr forever changed the design and production of school buses; it was attended by transportation officials, representatives from body and chassis manufacturers, and paint companies.
The conference resulted in a set of 44 standards adopted by all manufacturers (interior dimensions, seating configuration). Many of those standards allowed for consistency among body manufacturers, reducing the complexity of production as well as the price of their products; large-scale production was now possible. While many of the standards have been modified or updated, one lasting result of the conference remains part of every school bus in North America today: the adoption of a standard paint color for all school buses. While technically named National School Bus Glossy Yellow, school bus yellow was adopted for use since it was considered easiest to see in dawn and dusk, and it contrasted well with black lettering. While not universally used worldwide, yellow has become the shade most commonly associated with school buses both in North American and abroad.
1945-1960: A new need for school buses
Restored US Type C 1950s school bus
Following World War II, the baby boom resulted in rapid growth in both US urban and suburban areas, initially outpacing school construction. This led to an increase in the demand for school buses in cities, suburbs and rural areas.
As the American school bus evolved from a primarily rural form of transportation to something used in both urban and suburban population centers, two new variants emerged. Transit-style school buses had increased capabilities (seating capacity, handling) over conventional-style school buses. Small school buses were developed for the transportation of special-needs students and for routes unsuitable for larger buses. However, 'conventional US-type' school buses on a truck chassis still proved popular among the majority of operators within the US in the decades to come.
1960-1980: "The Big Six"
During the 1960s and 1970s, school buses in North America would undergo many changes. Alongside overall design changes, a number of factors would affect their productions as well as even their use during this time. Conventional-type school buses gained increased capabilities as their manufacturers switched the source of donor chassis from pickup trucks to medium-duty trucks. In terms of production, competition drew the number of body manufacturers down to six that produced buses on a national scale (Blue Bird, Carpenter, Superior, Thomas, Ward, and Wayne) alongside two manufacturers that specialized in buses for the West Coast (Crown and Gillig). With the exit of Diamond T, Mack, and White, chassis production was sourced by Chevrolet/GMC, Dodge (Fargo in Canada), Ford (Mercury in Canada), and International Harvester. Dodge would end school bus production in 1977 as part of Chrysler's financial difficulties.
Although the need for school bus transportation in rural and suburban areas was still driven by the population of the baby-boom generation, in urban areas, another factor would lead to an increase for the need for busing of students. During the 1970s, several large urban areas were court-ordered to bus students in an effort to racially integrate schools.
Small school buses
A short (Type A) school bus.
As full-size school buses grew larger during the 1950s and early 1960s, they became difficult to navigate the crowded, narrow streets of urban neighborhoods; other rural routes were extremely isolated, with roads that could not accommodate full-size buses. To fill this role, yellow-painted vehicles such as the International Travelall and Chevrolet Suburban came into use; as they entered production in the 1960s, vans were converted to school bus use, largely by the use of warning lights and yellow paint.
In 1973, the Wayne Busette became the first school bus based on a cutaway van chassis design; a scaled-down bus body took the place of the van body; the design of the Busette would quickly be followed by other bus manufacturers. On a heavier-duty scale, bus manufacturers also developed buses utilizing the chassis of a delivery van/step van, which allowed for the body to be the same width of a full-size school bus.
For the transportation of special-needs students, small school buses are often equipped with automated lifts for wheelchair-bound passengers unable to climb steps into the bus. In addition to the driver, these buses often have attendants or aides on board to deal with physical or mental issues of student passengers.
First School Bus built by the Blue Bird Body Company
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| 1927 |
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| 1937 |
1957 - Progress Continues
1967
1980-2000: Industry contraction
Two Type C buses from the "Big Six," photographed in the mid-1970s: A Ward(left) and a Wayne (right).
Towards the end of the 20th century, a variety of economic factors affected the school bus industry. The design of school buses themselves would make evolutionary change, while production of school buses would see significant change. Alongside the fragile economic situation of the early 1980s, there was a key factor driving school bus production and the entire education system in North America: by 1980, the entirety of the baby-boom generation had moved on to college or the workforce.
In 1980, there were six major school bus body manufacturers producing full-size school buses in North America:
Blue Bird Body Company
Carpenter Body Works
Superior Coach Company
Thomas Built Buses, Inc.
Wayne Corporation
Ward Body Works
The "Big Six" manufacturers produced bodies for chassis from three truck manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, and International Harvester) in addition to two coach-type school bus manufacturers who serviced the West Coast (Crown and Gillig).
Through the 1980s and 1990s, several manufacturers filed for bankruptcy or were purchased by other manufacturers. One of the few new firms that gained entry into the industry was Freightliner, who became a chassis supplier in the late 1990s. After 2001, only three of the original "Big Six" had survived (Blue Bird, Thomas, and IC Corporation—a rebranding of Ward successor AmTran).
2000-present: School buses of the 21st century
Blue Bird Vision school buses
The industry consolidation of the 1980s and 1990s necessitated several design changes throughout the industry. In the past, school bus manufacturers had operated as second-stage manufacturers; in nearly all cases, the buyer chose the chassis the body would be assembled on. The mergers and acquisitions of the past two decades had reduced the possible combinations of buses a manufacturer could build. Although the aspect of choice was disappearing, it would lead to several product innovations that were previously impossible.
In the past, conventional-style buses had been built on a chassis built from a separate manufacturer. In 2004, two school buses were introduced that led to buses being built from the ground up in-house. Blue Bird introduced the Vision conventional; in the same fashion of the All American, the chassis was designed by the company specifically for bus use and built in its own factory. The same year, Thomas Built Buses introduced the Saf-T-Liner C2. Although bearing a strong visual resemblance to the Freightliner M2 Business Class, the C2's chassis was designed together with its body as a single vehicle. Both the Vision and Saf-T-Liner C2 were developed in order to improve visibility around the entry doors of the bus.
During the middle of the decade, General Motors ended production of its P-chassis; Type B buses (in decline) all but disappeared. Virtually all small school buses today are of Type A design; General Motors and Ford are the sole chassis producers.
In 2011, another full-size school bus manufacturer was added to the mix for the first time in a decade. In partnership with Spartan Motors, Lion Bus of Saint-Jérôme, Quebec marked the return of full-size bus production to Canada. In a move to combat corrosion, Lion Bus used composite panels for the body of the bus in place of the traditionally-used steel.
School bus yellow
Yellow was adopted as a standard color for North American school buses beginning in 1939. In April of that year, Dr. Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York organized a meeting to establish national school bus construction standards, including yellow body paint. It became known officially as "National School Bus Chrome", later renamed "National School Bus Glossy Yellow." The color, which has come to be frequently called simply "school bus yellow", was selected because black lettering on that specific hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon.
The conference met for seven days and the attendees created a total of 45 standards, including specifications regarding body length, ceiling height, and aisle width. Dr. Cyr's conference, funded by a $5,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, was also a landmark event inasmuch as it included transportation officials from all 48 states (at the time), as well as specialists from school bus manufacturing and paint companies. The conference approach to school bus safety, as well as the yellow color, has endured into the 21st century.
Although it is not a government specification outside of the United States and Canada, school buses outside North America sometimes feature some shade of yellow in part or in whole, And while some areas without school services have conducted evaluations of American yellow style school buses, other governments require their own distinctive paint schemes, often favouring other high visibility colours such as white or orange that may better suit their own climate or conditions.
Yellow was adopted as a standard color for North American school buses beginning in 1939. In April of that year, Dr. Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York organized a meeting to establish national school bus construction standards, including yellow body paint. It became known officially as "National School Bus Chrome", later renamed "National School Bus Glossy Yellow." The color, which has come to be frequently called simply "school bus yellow", was selected because black lettering on that specific hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon.
The conference met for seven days and the attendees created a total of 45 standards, including specifications regarding body length, ceiling height, and aisle width. Dr. Cyr's conference, funded by a $5,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, was also a landmark event inasmuch as it included transportation officials from all 48 states (at the time), as well as specialists from school bus manufacturing and paint companies. The conference approach to school bus safety, as well as the yellow color, has endured into the 21st century.
Although it is not a government specification outside of the United States and Canada, school buses outside North America sometimes feature some shade of yellow in part or in whole, And while some areas without school services have conducted evaluations of American yellow style school buses, other governments require their own distinctive paint schemes, often favouring other high visibility colours such as white or orange that may better suit their own climate or conditions.
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