School board purchases charter bus

WAUSA – Wausa Public Schools has decided to navigate the challenge of high fuel prices by buying a used charter bus as a cost-savings measure.

The board of education on June 20 approved a quote of $51,000 from Navigator Motorcoaches Inc. of Norfolk for the purchase of a 2004 Prevost H3-45 Motor Coach.

“That bus will take care of Wausa for quite a few years,” Superintendent Brad Hoesing said in a follow-up interview.

The cost covers the sale price of $49,000 for the charter bus, along with $2,000 for vinyl lettering and graphics for the vehicle.

The charter bus, which will be used to transport students to various academic and athletic activities, will replace the school district’s current activity bus, which is a 2008 International snub-nosed school bus.

“It’s showing its age and it’s not meeting our needs at this point,” Hoesing said of the current activity bus, noting the time has arrived for it to be replaced.

The school district’s current activity bus can seat 40 children – two to a seat – while the charter bus can fit 56 passengers comfortably.

“We had this opportunity last year, and we kind of sat on it,” Hoesing said. “We knew we had to replace the activity bus.” He explained why the school district waited a year to buy a replacement activity bus.

“We sat on it because there were several other districts in our area that were taking advantage of this,” Hoesing said. “We kind of wanted to wait a year and see if the other districts had any issues.”

“Several districts that have used buses from Navigator raved about their service,” he said. “They service the buses. Their specialty is working on them.”

He noted the charter bus Wausa is getting is 18 years old, but the diesel-powered vehicle has been really well-maintained.

“It was still in their fleet,” Hoesing said of Navigator. “It’s had an engine overhaul. The tires are brand new on it.”

The charter bus’ mileage is currently in the 800,000-900,000 range, though this type of vehicle is made to travel long distances.

“This bus has higher mileage, but it’s a different structure of bus; they work differently,” Hoesing said, comparing it to a yellow school bus.

“It’s not something that we drive every day,” he said. “We’ll probably drive it three to four times a week, easy. It’s meant to be on the road.”

He explained one of the main reasons the school district decided to buy the charter bus.

“Navigator stood behind it and said that they would do all the maintenance on it,” Hoesing said. “It’s nice because their specialty is those buses.”

The school district has a high number of students participating in its various academic and athletic programs, which Hoesing noted is a “good problem” to have.

“It does create a logistics problem because we have to find additional drivers because our (current activity) bus a lot of times cannot meet the capacity,” Hoesing said. “We’ll have to find either two buses or a bus and several vans.”

School district officials hope the charter bus will be the only vehicle needed to transport students to activities within a reasonable driving distance and cut back on fuel spending.

“If we can keep the wear-and-tear and the mileage off our vans, that helps us prolong those vans,” Hoesing said. “We’re hoping to see some cost savings that way down the line.

“Financially, it made sense to go this route, other than looking at a school bus to replace the school bus that we currently have,” he said.

The school district plans to park the charter bus on an outdoor concrete pad north of the van barn on its campus.

“If you don’t have to run it on a lot of gravel, it saves it from wear-and-tear,” Hoesing said. “You definitely wouldn’t want to take it on our gravel road routes. It’s just not built for that.”

The location where the school district wants to park the charter bus is convenient for picking up and dropping off students.

“They can just literally walk down to it versus getting it driven up and set up,” Hoesing said. “Literally, the driver can just get in and go with the kids.”

Jon Baue and Trevor McFarland are the school district’s drivers who will operate the charter bus. Baue also is Wausa’s transportation director.

Hoesing noted students’ safety and comfort on school trips to and from activities are important.

“As more school districts around us co-op and consolidate, travel’s going to be longer,” he said. “If we’re going to ask our kids to drive an hour, an hour and a half-plus on a Tuesday and come back on Wednesday and be ready to go to class, we need to make sure that they have some type of way to relax and be able to be ready for the next school day.”