Vernon parents push for charter buses during snowy months

[Hassel99]

Vernon parents push for charter buses during snowy monthsA battle over buses is pitting parents against school administrators in Vernon on Wednesday.


Parents of players on the Vernon Secondary School’s football team want to charter a bus to take them over the snowy Coquihalla Highway to the Lower Mainland to play a game in Burnaby.


Sherri Black says the trip is too dangerous for a school bus.


“School buses may be safe in town-long trips. But on the Coquihalla, through the summit—I don’t think the school bus is equipped. Not safe, not safe at all,” says Black.


“It’s our money and we should have a say how we get there.”


Vernon school district superintendent Joe Rogers says the high school must send the team on a regular school bus due to a contract agreement with the drivers’ union, but insists the school buses are safe.


“The school bus is the safest mode of travel—the Transportation Safety Board would tell you it’s the safest mode of travel,” Rogers told CBC News.

Rogers says parents can take their children in their own vehicles.

Sherri Black says that's an option she and other parents are considering, but they will continue to push for the right to pay for a charter bus in the future.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vernon-parents-push-for-charter-buses-during-snowy-months-1.2433061

1) Are chartered busses "safer" than school busses?
2) If school busses are less safe why do we still use school busses on a daily basis?
3) If safety is a legitimate concern, it seems crazy to me that the safety of children is governed by a union contract.

[Dizzy1]

1) Are chartered busses "safer" than school busses?

No. However, different buses are built for different purposes. Take a a highway coach vs a city bus cruising down the highway, the highway coach is simply designed better for that purpose. Its not really that a city bus would be less safe on the highway, but it could require the driver to "work" more and be more fatiguing. Having said that, I think a school bus would be more exhausting to drive down the highway than a MCI but the school bus would not be less safe. Also, school buses have chains and built in sanders to help them in snowy conditions and frankly, given the rural roads school buses drive in and out of around here during snow storms, I'd probably rather drive the school bus in snowy conditions down the Coq and take a highway coach in the summer.

As for winter conditions go though, traction and driver ability is key over vehicle type.

2) If school busses are less safe why do we still use school busses on a daily basis?

Personally, I think the concerned parent is just blowing smoke out of their a$$. Reading the article its quite apparent they don't know what they're talking about. She says that she feels the bus is not equipped for highway travel across the Coq, but she doesn't say in what regards? As I pointed out above, school buses have chains and built in sanders so that already gives them an edge that a highway coach doesn't have. Personally, I think this is about comfort for the students and not about safety. A highway coach is much more comfortable that a school bus plus they usually have a toilet on board, so I have a feeling that they safety concern is just a cover for the real reason.

3) If safety is a legitimate concern, it seems crazy to me that the safety of children is governed by a union contract.

Oh, you'd be surprised how stupid Union's can be when it comes to protecting their contracts, but in this case, I seriously doubt that any safety concern is valid.

[underscore]

She says that she feels the bus is not equipped for highway travel across the Coq, but she doesn't say in what regards?

This just confirms that she's just another idiot trying to dictate how a job she knows nothing about should be done.

[kgcayenne]

My daughter went on a band trip, and the drive home took 6 hours over the Coq because the school bus just couldn't take it.

[Dizzy1]

My daughter went on a band trip, and the drive home took 6 hours over the Coq because the school bus just couldn't take it.

Summer or winter? This is kind of where I was leaning towards in regards to the difference between types of buses. Lets take summer driving for instance, a highway coach will have little problem making it up the hills on the Coq at a reasonable speed, where as a city bus or school bus might only be able to hit 50 or 60km/h going up the hill and maybe even only 100km/h on the straight and level. Does that make the vehicle unsafe? No, it just makes the trip longer. Of course in snowy conditions, the slower speed is your advantage regardless.

[kgcayenne]

The trip was in the springtime, and the bus overheated and had to go slower than 50 in between stops to cool. The bus itself may be percieved as safe to crawls along, but the discrepancy in speed will surprise bad drivers without a clue and in poor visibility. I sympathize with the parents in Vernon.

[grammafreddy]

If the issue REALLY is the safety of the kids, why don't they just stay home when the roads are treacherous? Beats killing a bus-load of kids, eh?

What kind of parent sends their kids out on bad roads? Its JUST a sports game, fercrissakes. Not worth a dead kid.

[Dizzy1]

The trip was in the springtime, and the bus overheated and had to go slower than 50 in between stops to cool. The bus itself may be percieved as safe to crawls along, but the discrepancy in speed will surprise bad drivers without a clue and in poor visibility.

If a bus overheats, going slower won't help anything, if it overheats you stop and pull over and let it cool off until it reaches the operational range again. Motorcoaches overheat as well, in any case its usually either a mechanical issue or driver error (not checking the coolant or monitoring the engine temp or pushing the bus). Also, driving the Coq from Vernon to Vancouver is just about 4.5 - 5 hours doing the speedlimit with no stops, 6 hours is respectable for a bus having to crawl up the hills (just like trucks) but if the bus was going less than 50km/h in between stops, that trip should have taken much longer than 6 hours unless the problem arose less than 100km away.

I sympathize with the parents in Vernon.

I don't simply because they haven't provided any basis for their arguement.

[rvrepairnut]

most parents would buy their kid a greyhound bus ticket and send them on their way.The last thing i would want is some part time school bus driver whom only drives in town to be taking a school bus over the coke during winter conditions

[kgcayenne]

When I listened to the piece on CBC this morning, the impression I was left with (which could be incorrect) was that the parents had to pay for the bus, and felt it was their money and should’ve been their choice of how to spend it, not the union’s. So I feel that if what I understood was correct, and that private money was being put forth from the parents, the union and School District are out of line.

[kgcayenne]

most parents would buy their kid a greyhound bus ticket and send them on their way.The last thing i would want is some part time school bus driver whom only drives in town to be taking a school bus over the coke during winter conditions

Excellent point.

[Dizzy1]

most parents would buy their kid a greyhound bus ticket and send them on their way.The last thing i would want is some part time school bus driver whom only drives in town to be taking a school bus over the coke during winter conditions

LOL OK! Interesting that these "part time drivers" that only drive "in town" take their buses into rural areas on roads that a highway coach couldn't even drive in the summer and in road conditions that make the Coq look like a Sunday drive.

Next time we have a snow storm, go out to the Westside or into the Falkland, Lumby, Cherryville areas and watch these "part timers" do what they get paid to do ... get kids to and from school safely.

[Dizzy1]

When I listened to the piece on CBC this morning, the impression I was left with (which could be incorrect) was that the parents had to pay for the bus, and felt it was their money and should’ve been their choice of how to spend it, not the union’s. So I feel that if what I understood was correct, and that private money was being put forth from the parents, the union and School District are out of line.

Thats a fair arguement, if they want a highway coach vs a school bus and they're paying the tab (in full, not just part and have the rest subsidized by the taxpayer) then by all means give them what they want. But, don't come up with some bogus nonsense about this being safer than the other.

Excellent point.

No its not, its completely baseless just as Sherri Black's "point" in the article in the OP.

[rvrepairnut]

="Dizzy1"][="rvrepairnut"]most parents would buy their kid a greyhound bus ticket and send them on their way.The last thing i would want is some part time school bus driver whom only drives in town to be taking a school bus over the coke during winter conditions[/quote]
LOL OK! Interesting that these "part time drivers" that only drive "in town" take their buses into rural areas on roads that a highway coach couldn't even drive in the summer and in road conditions that make the Coq look like a Sunday drive.

Next time we have a snow storm, go out to the Westside or into the Falkland, Lumby, Cherryville areas and watch these "part timers" do what they get paid to do ... get kids to and from school safely.[/quote]


so? do the Vernon parents get a guarantee that they will get one of the few seasoned off road bus drivers? and do these cherryville off road bus drivers have 60MPH Coke conditions experience+ skills and is the school#22 buses equipped for 60MPG winter coke conditions?? where in the lumby,falkland,cherryville areas are there Grizzly bear snow shed conditions and % slopes? I will tell u where! NOWHERE! your not comparing apples to apples not even close

[Dizzy1]

so? do the Vernon parents get a guarantee that they will get one of the few seasoned off road bus drivers?

Ok, so do the Vernon parents get a guarentee that they will get one of the few seasoned Greyhound drivers or maybe they'll get a spare driving their first winter trip?

and do these cherryville off road bus drivers have 60MPH Coke conditions experience+ skills and is the school#22 buses equipped for 60MPG winter coke conditions??

What skills does one need to drive a vehicle in winter conditions at 60mph vs 20mph? The only skill one needs is not to underestimate the road conditions, know your vehicle and drive accordingly. Driving on the Coq or down Hwy 6 is irrelevant.

where in the lumby,falkland,cherryville areas are there Grizzly bear snow shed conditions and % slopes? I will tell u where! NOWHERE!

And what exactly makes that dangerous for a school bus or its driver?

your not comparing apples to apples not even close

At least I'm in the orchard.