If it was up to Mason County Central Schools, they would replace their
oldest busses every year, but that isn’t the case. As a result, the rust on
some of their buses is so severe that holes have formed on side panels,
exposing the insulation beneath. The Western Michigan district is far from
alone. Yearly inspections by the Michigan State Police found small, rural
school districts were experiencing the most problems with their buses during
the 2013-14 school year. Besides the age of the buses, possible reasons for the
disparity between urban and rural districts could be due to a system's budget,
quality of the roads, and number of mechanics as well as their level of
experience. By contrast, the statewide failure rate was just over 10 percent,
though the rate rose for the second straight year.
The districts blamed their high failure rates on aging fleets and
the lack of money to replace them. After an inspection, buses are placed in one
of three categories: pass, yellow or red. Yellow means the vehicle is safe to
operate but its problems need to be fixed within 60 days. Red means the problem
is so severe the bus must be taken off the road immediately and cannot return
until it is corrected. As for the state as a whole, the number of buses that
failed inspection jumped from 7.6 percent in 2011-12 to 9.5 percent in 2012-13
and 10.2 percent in 2013-14, according to state police figures.
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