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A school bus is a bus that has been designed primarily for the role of student transport. In the United States and Canada, safety regulations have influenced the design of school buses to an extent that they have evolved into separate vehicles from transit buses, and that an industry has been created to manufacture them. In other parts of the world, vehicles used as school buses are outwardly similar to transit buses.

School Bus Configurations[]

In most instances, school bus manufacturers are second stage manufacturers; however, a few school buses (typically those of Type D configuration) utilize a body and chassis produced by a single manufacturer. The North American school bus industry produces buses in four different body configurations, listed below:

  • Type A ("cutaway van") school buses are the smallest, typically with a GVWR under 10,000 pounds. These are constructed from a bus body placed on a cutaway van chassis with a left-side driver's door. Typical passenger capacity ranges from 16–30 passengers.
  • Type B ("integrated") school buses are larger than Type A, with a GVWR over 10,000 pounds. These are constructed from a bus body mounted either to a stripped chassis or to a cowled chassis. Typical passenger capacity ranges from 30–36 passengers.
  • Type C ("conventional") school buses have a GVWR of over 10,000 pounds, typically between 23,000 and 29,500 pounds. These are constructed from a bus body mounted to a cowled medium-duty truck chassis usually supplied by another manufacturer. Typical passenger capacity ranges from 36–78 passengers.
  • Type D ("transit") school buses have a GVWR of over 10,000 lbs, typically between 25,000 and 36,000 pounds. They are constructed from a bus body mounted to a separate chassis. Unlike other types of school buses, the entrance door is mounted forward of the front axle.[1] Typical passenger capacity ranges from 54–90 passengers.


School Bus Configurations

A 2010 Girardin MB-II body on a Ford E-350 chassis.
Type A school bus
late 1990s Blue Bird Mini Bird on Chevrolet P30 chassis
Type B school/activity bus
mid to late 1990s Thomas Built Buses Conventional on International 3800 chassis
Type C school bus
2009 Blue Bird All American FE on Blue Bird chassis
Type D school bus
There are four variations of school buses sold in North America.

Lists of Manufacturers[]

Current Manufacturers
Company Name Product(s) Founded Location Notes
Full-line Manufacturers
Blue Bird Corporation
  • Type A (discontinued)
  • Type B (discontinued)
  • Type C
  • Type D
1932 Fort Valley, Georgia
  • Blue Bird is a privately held company owned by Cerberus Capital Management
  • In a joint venture, Blue Bird markets Girardin-produced Type A buses under the Blue Bird name.
IC Bus
  • Type A (discontinued)
  • Type B
  • Type C
  • Type D
2002
  • Warrenville, Illinois (corporate)
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma (assembly)
  • Conway, Arkansas (parts fabrication)
Thomas Built Buses, Inc.
  • Type A
  • Type B (discontinued)
  • Type C
  • Type D
1972 High Point, North Carolina
Starcraft Bus
  • Type A
 Type B
  • Type C (coming 2012)
1997 Goshen, Indiana
  • Starcraft is a division of Forest River, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company.
  • Starcraft announced in November 2009 a joint venture with Toyota's Hino Motors to develop an all-new Type C design.[2] A prototype was unveiled in Fall 2010; full production is expected to begin in 2012.
Type A-only Manufacturers
Collins Industries
  • Type A
1967 Hutchinson, Kansas
Girardin Minibus
  • Type A
1935 Drummondville, Quebec, Canada
  • Girardin is currently the sole Canadian-based producer of school buses.
  • Girardin produces Type A school buses in a joint venture with Blue Bird known as Micro Bird, Inc.
Trans Tech
  • Type A
2007 Warwick, New York
  • Trans Tech is a division of Transportation Collaborative, Inc.
Recently Defunct Manufacturers (1980-present)
Company Name Foundation Ceased Production Location Notes
AmTran
(American Transportation Corporation)
1980 2002
  • Conway, Arkansas
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • Produced Type A, C, and D buses.
  • Marketed school buses under the Ward name from 1980-1992 (commercial buses adopted AmTran name in 1980.)
  • Re-branded as International, then IC in 2003 after being purchased outright by Navistar International in 1995.
Carpenter Industries, Inc. 1919 2001
  • Mitchell, Indiana (1919-1995)
  • Richmond, Indiana (1996-2001)
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Carpenter was shut down in May 2001 by parent company Spartan Motors.
Crown By Carpenter 1996 1999 Richmond, Indiana
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Crown by Carpenter was a 1996-99 re-branding of Carpenter using the rights from the purchase of the Crown Coach name.
  • The Crown name was dropped from Carpenter for the 2000 model year by Spartan Motors.
Coach and Equipment Manufacturing
Penn Yan, New York[3]
  • A manufacturer of van conversions to Type A school buses from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s [4]
Crown Coach Corporation 1904 1991
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Chino, California
  • Produced Type D buses
  • Subsidiary of GE Railcar from 1987-1991.
  • Rights to the Crown name were purchased in May 1991 by Carpenter Body Works.
Gillig Corporation 1890 1993 Hayward, California
  • Produced Type C and D buses.
  • Ended school bus production in 1993; still produces mass-transit buses.
Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil (Corbeil)

1985

2007

St-Lin-Laurentides, Quebec, Canada
  • Produced Type A, C, and D buses.
  • Type C and D full-size buses sold in Canada only.
  • Assets acquired by Collins Industries in 2007
  • Existed until 2015 in the United States as Collins subsidiary Corbeil Bus Corporation.
Liberty Bus
Lima, Ohio
  • Produced a small number of Type A school buses in early 2000s.
Mid Bus Corporation 1981 2008
  • Lima, Ohio
  • Bluffton, Ohio
  • Created by employees of Superior Coach Company to continue production of Type A school buses.
  • Acquired by Collins Bus Corporation in 1998.
  • Since 2008, Mid Bus products are re-badged Collins models.
New Bus, Inc.[5][6][7] 1990 Chickasha, Oklahoma
  • Produced a small number of Type C and Type D buses in the late 1980s.
  • Type C buses were continuation of Superior production.
Superior Coach Company
  • 1982
  • 1985
Lima, Ohio
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Superior employees created Mid Bus in 1981.
  • Full-size bus production ended after 1985 (design later used by New Bus, Inc.).
TAM-USA[8] 1991 1991
  • Maribor, Slovenia (initial body assembly)
  • Van Nuys, California (final assembly)
  • TAM-USA was an importer of Yugoslavian-built TAM buses
  • A small number of school bus bodies (Type D) were manufactured in Yugoslavia and fitted with American drivetrain components in California.
U.S. Bus Corporation
Suffern, New York
  • Producer of Type A buses in 1990s and early 2000s.
Ward Body Works 1933 1980
  • Conway, Arkansas
  • Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1980; re-organized as American Transportation Corporation (AmTran) in 1981.
  • Successor AmTran continued use of Ward brand name (on school buses) until 1992.
Wayne Corporation
1837 1992
  • Richmond, Indiana
  • Windsor, Ontario, Canada
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Wayne underwent several changes of ownership before ending up as Richmond Transportation Corporation from 1985-92.
  • Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation and ceased operations in 1995.
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles 1992 1995 Marysville, Ohio
  • Produced Type A, C, and D buses.
  • Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation.
  • Continued production of Wayne Corporation products.
Historical Manufacturers (before 1980)
Company Name Ceased Production Location Notes
Hackney Brothers Body Company[9] c. 1966 Wilson, North Carolina
  • Produced Type C buses on Ford chassis.
Kenworth-Pacific 1957 Renton, Washington
  • Produced Type D buses.
  • Kenworth subsequently sold their bus tooling and equipment to Gillig.
Northern Coach [10]
Wisconsin
  • Produced a small number of "Northern-Air" Type C buses in the late 1970s.
Oneida Products Corporation[11] 1960
  • Canastota, New York
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
  • From 1952-1960, Oneida was owned by professional car manufacturer Henney Motor Company.
  • Oneida was purchased in 1960 by Marmon-Herrington.
Perley A. Thomas Car Works 1972 High Point, North Carolina
  • Produced Type C and D buses; best known for streetcar production.
  • Perley A. Thomas Car Works was re-organized into Thomas Built Buses in 1972.
Union City Body Company[12] 1957 Union City, Indiana
  • Produced Type C buses.
  • Union City is now a supplier of bodies for UPS.

References[]

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