Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON - Tippy Valley Schools has something no other school district in Kosciusko County does.
The new Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner C2 bus. Three of them, to be exact. The last one was delivered to the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. bus garage Tuesday afternoon.
"They drive nice," said TVSC Assistant Bus Mechanic Colvin Cox. "They don't ride like a bus."
Assistant Superintendent Brett Boggs said Valley is the first school district in the county to have the new style of bus. The buses seat 72 passengers and have a Mercedes-Benz engine. "We're very pleased with (the engine) so far," Boggs said. Some of the other style of buses Valley owns also have the engine and Boggs said they haven't had any problems with them. Vance Nofziger, Thomas regional sales manager, said there are 200,000 Mercedes-Benz engines in the U.S. today.
The busses cost approximately $63,000 each.
From Valley's perspective, said Boggs, there are two advantages to the new style of bus - safety and fuel mileage.
The larger windows provide more visibility for the bus driver and riders, adding safety to the loading and unloading of students. The door is almost entirely glass. "The safety aspect is a big plus," said Boggs.
Before bus drivers take a bus out, they are required to do a pre-trip survey of the bus to make sure all the headlights and flashing lights are working. That might require someone to stand behind the bus to look at the lights as the bus driver turns each one on. With the C2s, the bus driver flips a switch and walks around the bus as each of the lights and safety arms comes on one by one automatically.
While the other buses may get 5 to 6 miles per gallon, the new buses may get anywhere from 7 to 9 miles per gallon. "That will be very helpful to us," said Boggs. One of the reasons the C2s get better fuel mileage is because they are more aerodynamic, Boggs said.
Of the three new C2 buses, two of them have storage compartments on the side. Bus Mechanic Lyle Butt said the state wants buses to carry less gear and equipment on the buses with the students, so the compartments come in handy.
And if big is beautiful, the new C2s come with a lot more - bigger side windows, bigger emergency windows and more head room (78 inches from floor to ceiling).
Adhesive bonded joints with fewer rivets provide increased strength and leak resistance, according to Cliff Zehr, president of Kerlin Bus Sales. Kerlin has been the Thomas Built bus dealer in Indiana for the last 43 years, he said.
Driving the three new C2 buses will be bus drivers John Owens, Jerry Finney and Paula Foltz. Owens and Finney drive the buses for many of Valley's athletic teams, which is why their buses come with the storage compartments.
Nofziger said the C2s were introduced in June 2005 and full production started that month. To produce the new bus style, Thomas built a $40 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in High Point, N.C. Nofziger said the company has invested $120 million in the product. The concept of the C2 was to bring the technology used in automobiles today to school buses.
"We just brought the school bus industry up to speed," said Nofziger.
For more information on the C2s, visit online at www.thomasbus.com
