Recently, our friends at the Lapeer County Press published an article on the numerous projects at the bus garage that would be funded by the passage of the 2022 School Improvement Bond on Nov. 8.

In addition to long-overdue upgrades to the structure of the garage, the school improvement bond calls for an additional 10 new buses for the District’s aging fleet. LCS Director of Transportation, Linda Thompson, is quoted in the article:

Currently, the LCS fleet contains 57 buses that travel a collective million miles annually. In general, buses are manufactured with a lifespan of 10 years. In Lapeer, in use is one bus built in 2009, 11 built in 2011, six from 2012 and nine from 2013. Every school district is subject to annual inspection of their fleet performed by the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division of the Michigan State Police. While every bus seen on the road has passed that inspection, the older a bus gets the more expensive it becomes to keep it road-worthy. “When we get to (the 10-year) mark, we run into a lot of rust issues and motor issues that cost a lot to maintain,” Thompson said. “When our buses get older it takes more money and time, which costs money to get them through the inspection.”

Lapeer County Press

To read the full article, you can click this link (free access).

For more information, e-mail Jared Field, LCS Director of Communications, at jared.field@lapeerschools.org.