the school bus

Approximately 26 million kids ride the bus every day in the US. Schools in my town recently cut back severely on school bus service without providing any help to families, not even a carpool forum on their massive website. Schools need energy efficient transportation

Changes (via Wikipedia)

"... Several manufacturers have introduced hybrid school buses while alternatives to diesel fuel are also being explored. Seatbelts, always a controversial topic, have become more common in school buses; buses with 3-point seatbelts have been introduced. School bus crossing arms, first introduced in the late 1990s, have been adopted by a number of jurisdictions. Electronics have started to play a role in school bus operation. GPS tracking devices have been added to school buses in the past decade; this is used in a dual role of fleet management as well as a means of keeping parents updated. In addition, alarm systems have been developed to prevent children from being left on unattended school buses overnight.[22]"

Diesel-Electric Hybrids  

Diesel-electric and gas-electric hybrids"Eleven states joined together for an exploratory purchase of 19 school buses from IC Bus. New York, California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa and Washington will be the first states in the nation to receive these diesel electric hybrid school buses.[citation needed] Since then, hybrids have slowly begun to gain acceptance in the marketplace nationwide as the incremental cost of these vehicles comes down. Hybrids generally cost about $200,000 as of spring 2011, compared to more than $100,000 for a regular-sized diesel school bus.[45]"

Nanny vans in Hong Kong: 

"In Hong Kong, younger students are transported between their homes and schools by "nanny vans". These vehicles are typically van-based and are smaller than a minibus. When nanny vans originated, they were regulated primarily by the schools and the van drivers. Today, in the interest of safety, nanny vans are government-regulated vehicles that run on fixed routes."

A Brief History of the School Bus from Learning Matters:




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green school buses