As the district awaits the delivery of 40 new buses with sea tbelts, the transportation department has implemented a "Seatbelt is Your Buddy" seat belt campaign to remind and encourage students to wear their seat belts on the bus.
The breakdown
HCISD Director of Transportation Cassandra Behr said of the district’s current bus fleet:
- 163 have seat belts, a combination of general and special education buses
- 13 have been retrofitted with seat belts, which were 2016 and 2017 models
- 87 are used as support fleet and do not have seat belts
Staying prepared
The transportation department implemented a seat belt campaign this school year with posters and stickers inside all of the buses reminding students to wear their seat belts. The items are printed in both English and Spanish and will also be printed as handout stickers for students.
The department also partnered with the communications department for a video about how to properly wear bus seat belts, and during elementary meet the teacher, had a bus on each campus for students to practice putting on their seat belts.
Some context
The board of trustees approved a five-component plan to accelerate equipping all district buses with seat belts during a special board meeting April 15.
At an April 22 meeting, the board approved the purchase of 30 buses for $4.7 million from the 2023 bond.
Behr said this is on top of the seven general education buses and three special education buses ordered last August—which are currently in production—bringing the number of buses ordered and awaiting delivery to 40.
Buses take about a year and two months to be delivered after they are ordered, she said.
“After they get built at the factory, they go through a [predelivery inspection] process over there, and then they go to get air conditioning installed in them,” Behr said. “Depending upon the vendor who is doing the air conditioning is how quickly we get it from them. And then once we get it, we do the last installs of our electronics—our camera system, our SMARTtag system [and] our active GPS system that we utilize in our two-way radios.”
Looking ahead
The Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee could call for a bond that would go before voters in May 2025.
“We did request to have additional buses put in [the bond], and part of that is for continued growth as a district as well, and then just to make sure that we have enough support fleet in their buses that have seat belts,” Behr said.
While a bond has not yet been discussed by the board, Behr said 20 to 30 buses would be a comfortable number added to the fleet.
