{"id":2211,"date":"2018-01-02T14:10:26","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T19:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2018-01-30T15:12:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T20:12:50","slug":"s-c-buses-older-than-fifteen-years-catch-on-fire-and-need-to-be-replaced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/s-c-buses-older-than-fifteen-years-catch-on-fire-and-need-to-be-replaced\/","title":{"rendered":"S.C. buses older than fifteen years catch on fire and need to be replaced"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since 2012, there have been 24 school bus fires with vehicles over 15 years old.<\/p>\n

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Mike Bullman, Assistant Director of School Bus Maintenance, says more inspections are needed to prevent fires on buses and more money is needed to buy replacements.<\/p>\n

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Rhonda Watson, Dutch Fork Middle School bus driver, has driven her 27-year-old bus named Nelly for over 10 years..<\/p>\n

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he South Carolina Department of Education is buying 855 new buses this year.<\/p>\n

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By Kenneil Mitchell<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>CAROLINA REPORTER & NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhonda Watson, a Dutch Fork Middle School bus driver and driving instructor, has driven her 27-year-old bus for more than 10\u00a0<\/strong>years.<\/p>\n

To Watson, the bus is more than just a vehicle. It\u2019s a longtime friend, a friend she calls Nelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI named her after my grandmother\u2019s favorite pet cow,\u201d Watson said. \u201cAlways there, always dependable.”<\/p>\n

But Watson will soon be putting Nelly out to pasture and hopping aboard a 2018 school bus. A series of bus fires and other maintenance issues has focused attention on the aging South Carolina fleet. Out of 5,582 buses running in South Carolina, 1,347 buses are\u00a0older than 15 years and\u00a0need to be replaced.<\/p>\n

The 2016-17 South Carolina\u2019s School Bus Fleet Report<\/a> found that since 2012, 24 buses have caught on fire, causing $157,000 in damages.<\/p>\n

The average age of the state’s buses ranges from 15-to-30 years old.\u00a0The South Carolina Department of Education has purchased 855 buses since January.<\/p>\n

Watson said the old buses are easy to drive, but there are problems with maintaining a 27-year-old bus.<\/p>\n

Watson says her bus only had two maintenance issues that were quickly taken care of by mechanics of the S.C. Department of Education.\u00a0She believes it\u2019s the driver\u2019s responsibility to take care of the bus, no matter how old they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think it comes down to a driver being aware of their vehicle,\u201d Watson said. \u201cTurning in a maintenance write up<\/a> on it as soon as they find an issue. Letting the supervisor and the state determine if that puts that bus out of service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Bullman, assistant director of School Bus Maintenance, says he is\u00a0committed to fixing the\u00a0buses while adding new models to the fleet.<\/p>\n

The wiring\u00a0becomes old and securements can break, which is why Bullman says inspections should happen more\u00a0often to prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disappointing that the maintenance of them cannot be achieved a little quicker and a little more efficient.\u201d
\n\u2013 Rhonda Watson, school bus driver<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is working alongside S.C. Schools Superintendent Molly Spearman to gain more funds to purchase new buses and says she has been really\u00a0committed to making sure the bus fleet is\u00a0at the highest standard possible.<\/p>\n

Bullman says\u00a0they’ve been able to get funding from the General Assembly and use internal funds intended for\u00a0maintaining older engines to buy new buses.<\/p>\n

Bullman is confident in\u00a0 his plans to create\u00a0<\/strong>a safer fleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the safest form of ground transportation in the world,\u201d Bullman said. \u201cIf we can get on our 15-year replacement cycle, we\u2019ll go a long way to making the fleet as safe and efficient as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson still drives Nelly to pick up students, but she’s willing to make the transition to the new 2018 model of school buses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thoroughly enjoy driving these,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThey handle wonderfully, they hold about the same number of students, which doesn\u2019t interfere with the routes already put in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as which one she prefers to drive, the old Nelly or the new Nancy, both buses have their strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom just a driver\u2019s point of view, I like that old beauty cause it\u2019s what I knew,\u201d Watson said. \u201cFor the safety of the students, these are better. Because these newer buses offer additional safety equipment that Nelly doesn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson says she\u2019s open for a change of buses, which means leaving her friend Nelly in the past, and driving forward to ensure the safety of the students.<\/p>\n

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Columbia and other counties have seen an increase of school bus fires and the S.C. Department of Education is replacing over one thousand buses next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39,63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}