Bus rides to Daviess County Public Schools are getting a little cooler. The district is working to install air conditioning both to school buses currently in the fleet and to future ones they’ll add.
DCSP has already begun retrofitting 18 buses from 2017 and newer with air conditioning. They have completed installations in 9 buses, 6 are currently being retrofitted and 3 are waiting to be sent to the mechanic.
By August, they plan to have 35 buses retrofit with air conditioning.
“Our reasoning behind the air conditioner, aside from comfort, is that when the children are comfortable, they have less behavioral issues and (that helps) the driver focus,” said DCPS Director of Transportation Grady Cooper.
Cooper and Head of Mechanics Stephen Shrewsberrry said air conditioning adds roughly $13,000 to the cost of a new bus, while retrofitting a current unit costs $14,000.
Shrewsberry said they will periodically select more buses to be retrofitted until they all have air conditioning. He said that going forward, new buses will be ordered with air conditioning already installed.
This year, DCPS only has to purchase 6 new school buses instead of the typical 8; that move comes after the district consolidated bus routes at the start of the academic year.
The money saved by reducing routes is instead being used to fund the air conditioning installation costs. Cooper said that drivers have reacted positively to the upgrade.
“They’re tickled to death. The drivers that have already received some of the retrofitted buses have been exploring them and finding the benefits, and more of that is coming forward,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the next improvement they want to explore is updating the cameras to improve student safety.
“We have options on the camera systems,” he said. “We don’t want to go through the entire fleet and replace them, but we may start exploring a different camera option.”
