By Kelly Roher

I find that I tend to have at least a little more time during the summer months to work on goals for the magazine and our website beyond my usual tasks that are sometimes a challenge to fit into my days during the early and latter parts of the year. With summer just around the corner, I’m curious to read about how the summer months stack up for you, both professionally and personally.

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By Thomas McMahon

In an unusual ad campaign in South Korea, the smell of Dunkin' Donuts coffee was wafted into transit buses. While we don't want to encourage kids to run to the nearest donut shop, could other types of soothing odors be used on a school bus to keep passengers calm? ...

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By Kelly Roher


Next month, I’m scheduled to not just ride a school bus, I’ll actually be driving the bus. We set this goal so that I can get a better sense of what you and your drivers face on a daily basis in terms of maneuvering such a large vehicle on the road. To prepare, I've been driving ...

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By Thomas McMahon

Yes, talking and texting with cell phones is a major factor in automotive crashes. And many states have banned drivers from using cell phones. But there was distracted driving before cell phones, and there will always be many other ways to be distracted while driving. Hard as they may try ...

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By Kelly Roher

In our March 2013 issue, I interviewed executives at several school bus companies for a roundtable. The officials had interesting things to say on topics ranging from school bus driver shortage to healthcare reform to changes in the contractor market. Here, I’ll share with you some of their comments that didn’t make it into the print edition.

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By Kelly Roher

In our March 2013 issue, I wrote an article titled “How to Make the Most of Technician Training,” where officials from several operations around the country shared with me practices they have in place to maximize training for their bus maintenance employees. Here, I’ll share with you some training initiatives that didn’t make it into the feature.

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By Thomas McMahon

I just hope to be half as fit and active as Earl Rineer when I’m 60, let alone 90. Earl, who marked nine decades in January, has been committed to the safe transportation of students since he began driving yellow buses in 1976. These days ...

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By Kelly Roher

One of our readers recently shared with me a situation at his operation in which the director allowed a driver to operate a bus when some of its lights weren't functioning. This got me thinking about what puts a bus immediately out of service. I did some research ...

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By Thomas McMahon

Do some school bus drivers need their passengers (or someone else) to remind them to buckle up? Several incidents that have made the news should serve as cautionary tales to those who haven’t made it a priority to properly wear their seat belts. ...

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By Kelly Roher

We’ve all had moments where we’ve seen or read something that makes us laugh out loud or think, “What the heck?!” I read recently about an unusual occurrence involving a pupil transportation operation in Washington state.

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