Crawford County Receives Bus Inspection, Updates Fleet

Crawford County R-1 received a 72.2% on the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s annual bus inspection.

The district had 22.2% of buses considered defective, though they were fixed.

The district has recently upgraded its fleet. Two newer buses have been purchased.

This gives the district four buses in the past two years that are less than 5-years-old and have low mileage.

Newer buses and a maintenance plan are part of a cohesive strategy to optimize the fleet, according to Justin Blanton, the district’s bus mechanic.

Blanton is a one-man show at the bus garage on Old Highway 66. He oversees all 20 buses and coordinates routes.

And with a school located in a rural area, Bourbon puts some of its buses through the rigors of long miles on gravel roads.

Blanton said he can spend several hours a day tightening up mirrors or screws that have rattled loose from traveling those bumpy gravel roads.

He has conceived a preventive maintenance plan to catch problems before they arise and keep the budget steady.

“We don’t want to wait for things to fail,” said Blanton, who left a spot on the school board to take the bus mechanic position two years ago. “This schedule will help us get the budget on a plateau so we won’t have unexpected costs.”

Under Blanton’s plan, there are daily and yearly maintenance lists, along with three-year, five-year and 10-year lists.

Beyond the daily inspection and the full-service check-ups, Blanton will replace components like brakes, belts and transmissions every three years; crossover motors, stop sign motors, shocks and emergency exits every five years and exhaust, steering, coolant hoses and roof hatches every 10 years.

By the end of three years, Blanton wants to have all aging buses up to the new plan standard with a preventive maintenance checklist and a schedule.

Two years ago, the district budgeted $40,000 for maintenance and only spent $21,000. Last year, the board budgeted $36,000 and costs went well above that, Blanton said.

In the past two years, Bourbon has replaced three buses that were over 20-years-old and Blanton’s hope is that the district can eventually get the entire fleet under 15.

“We don’t have to buy one $120,000 bus — we can get ahead with two buses for $60,000,” he said.

Going forward, he wants the new buses to all have air conditioning. He said a cooler bus can affect behavioral issues.

Blanton and school administrators have seen on camera how a cooler bus can calm kids down, while a hot bus seems to get them worked up.

“They can’t sit still on a hot bus,” he said.

It’s also a matter of driver comfort.

Blanton said people would find it objectionable to put 25 students in front of one teacher, but bus drivers deal with 65 passengers.

“I drove the bus for summer school and it’s unbelievable how hard it is to hear something, pick it out on a mirror and drive,” he said.