I-Team: Expensive Tows and Repair Cost for Atlanta School Buses
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- by Dale Russell
Aired Feb. 18, 2016
ATLANTA - On a chilly Monday morning in February, tow truck operators fanned out across the city.
Their job was to pick up broken down Atlanta Public School buses and tow them in for repairs. The FOX 5 I-Team documented seven school buses, broken down, and towed in during one school morning.
Greg Greeson, of South Metro Towing, told me it wasn't unusual and happened all the time.
In fact, our examination of school records showed nearly 3 school buses every day have to be towed, costing the Atlanta school system more than $65,000 last year. And once those buses break down, it can sometimes take months before they are repaired.
John Franklin is the APS transportation director: “If a bus is breaking down on the roads, then students are being affected.” Franklin says, “It’s not anything we want.”
When we checked the fleet records, we found 95 out of the city's 407 buses were in the shop. 23% of the entire fleet was out of commission.
“That is unacceptably high,” says Franklin.
Franklin hopes the hiring of more mechanics, and better training for the mechanics on staff, as well as the purchase of new buses will create a better fleet for students and parents.
The constant breakdowns often cause bus drivers to have to pick up a second route, at times, causing delays for parents and children.
Ray Burgess, an APS parent told us simply: “It doesn't seem as they have enough buses to get around.”
The city spent more than $140,000 last year in outside maintenance fees, trying to fix the problems.
Our investigation also found the city is so far behind, that 105 school buses were not inspected in January, as required by state law. Those monthly inspections show a shopping list of problems ranging from bad brakes, to bad tires to warning lights that don't work.
John Franklin says his driver's do pre and post trip inspections to check for unsafe conditions. His maintenance crew has worked overtime, and he brought in more outside mechanics to get all those January inspections done by this week.
He wants the problems fixed. “My singular focus is to get buses inspected, so our parents can be confident again,” he told me. “No one is shying away from situation, we're running to it. We want to fix it.”
It doesn't sound to me like the buses are not getting fixed because of neglect. It sounds like the fleet maintenance dept is overwhelmed with all the work. Seems like they need to work with some other county fleet maintenance facilities and have them work on them with a partnership to get caught up.
perhaps the school bus company should invest in a small fleet of heavy wreckers of their own. cut out the middleman
The transportation (John Franklin) coordinator sends a clear message of ineptness - in an interview, I would never stretch my legs out and cross my feet, especially on national TV.
My bus has broken down 3 times, 2 in the same spot. When we were at the elementary to leave for the middle school and high school, one of the fullest buses broke down. And our bus, being the emptiest transfer bus, I’m talking not even 15 students, stayed to get all the students from the COMPLETELY FULL BUS onto our bus. We somehow managed to have all our buses original riders, transfer riders, AND the entire full bus onto our bus. The bus was so full that 3 or 4 students were standing because there weren’t any open seats, and my bus driver yelled at the students to get in a seat 😂 They ended up sitting on people or in the isle 😂👏
What grade are u in
rick thunberg i’m going to be a sophomore, but i think this happened in like 7th grade
*does angry smile* APS, keep that up and those buses will turn to scrap. Signed, Angela.
Our 2002 School Buses are still in service and they run better then those.
mooopaw LA Unified just retired their 1975 to 89 California Crown Coaches I think two years ago. That is dedication
That might not be a fair comparison. Those Crown Coach school buses were practically bulletproof compared to the Blue Bird, Wayne, Ward, and others from that era. I wish I could get my hands on an old Crown bus and convert it into an RV.
@@369Bandido I've seen videos of the legendary Crown Coaches...those are stick-shift tanks.
Our old town's district got rid of most of them around 2005-2006, but had the mighty 3-axle version around until 2012.
Oldest right now is a 92-93 model, the last one with the bold-style California planes.
Yeah a 1979 Ford school bud runs better than those buses!!!
This is terrible. Baltimore County maintains their buses very well. I remember in 8th grade we only had a spare bus once for mechanical reasons but only for 1 week and twice for routine maintenance. Once in the morning and a few months later in the afternoon. And 9th grade once due to mechanical issues and once due to someone breaking the emergency exit door during a bus evacuation. And the only time I rode a spare for months was in 5th grade when the morning bus had to undergo collision repair after a head on collision from a driver driving on the wrong side of the road. And they get new buses every year and auction off the oldest at 12 years of age. So right now they are running buses that were delivered in summer of 04 as the oldest and once school gets out for the summer they will be auctioned.
i think every district gets new buses every year, but its good that your district keeps your buses in good shape. my district does the same, except we auction ours off when they hit 200,000 miles.
Everybody wants more buses. Everybody wants safe buses. Everybody wants buses to be on time. Nobody wants to pay higher taxes to accomplish the goals.
I work for a district with over 320 buses and we rarely have more than ten out of service. Yes we have had bad days with break downs, but most of the time they're out of service for regular service issues. Oil changes and other maintenance repairs, and us drivers inspect our bus twice a day and report issues as soon as possible. To me it sounds like Atlanta needs a better system, from my stand point those buses aren't that old.
RB Brown if the rampant political corruption in Atlanta could be curbed there’d be no need for higher taxes.
The schools don't want to pay for new busses. But are very fast to complain when the busses are not on time. Thats what im dealing with at school. Diving 10 year old bus.
Bus Drivers: Bye Bye Bus🚌 School: Oh No!!👎🏫
Like that Peterbilt recovery truck
UPS drive trucks every day with 2,000,000 miles on them and 20 years old
Just goes to show that newer is NOT always better!!!!!!!
Timothy Horner No they don't
Timothy Horner Op
Timothy Horner r
Same with out buses. When they started going all hi tech computer diesel, the problems started. The newest buses are the most trouble. The 15-20 yr old, almost bullet proof. We started switch to gas engines last year.
Gasoline burns faster and is actually cheaper - diesel busses are riddled with mechanical issues.
The kids are probably happy that the buses that they ride to school are on the news
what ?
Has nothing to do with the school system. All these new buses tearing up left and right. Manufacturers trying to achieve better fuel mileage and meet epa regulations but they’re making them less reliable in the process. If the drivers driving the buses with no inspections....that’s crazy
USPO keeps LLV's 30 years, l bought a DJ5. Loved it for a paper route, sold with a warning. I used it for 10 years.
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I just noticed that these buses are Thomas and international buses but no Blue Bird buses
if they had bluebird they wouldn't have this problem
wait no they DO have bluebirds, visions and 3800s.
@@buckeyerails15 I only saw one Blue Bird International 3800. The reset were all IC buses and Thomas buses. I didn't see any Bluebird Visions though.
@@buckeyerails15 They had some Bluebirds in their shop as well. Bluebirds wouldn't solve the problem. They are not common in my state because they are prone to catch on fire. 2 Visions, a 2018 and 2019, caught on fire in the same year while on their routes. That county has since switched to a different dealer.
get used to it. or go back to the dependable, simple motors, and keep the computers for the video games
+RodMidkiff ya they need to go back to the good ole chevy 366 simple and run forever
ron b that motor is so dumb high fuel consumption and low power output diesels are where it's at
23k? Try at least 80k dollars for a new bus.
im talking about the cost of a new engine
I'll agree with that!
Those buses are lemons
That's a shame. Why not sell off what you don't need and can't fix, or donate those buses to organizations that are willing to fix them and put them to use....or, crush them if they're not able to be fixed.
Now that the bus shop and the buses are taken over from our school division by a large bussing outfit the mechanics spend up to 40% of the day behind the computer. It is all in the name of "efficiency" but the mechanics are frustrated that while bureaucracy eats up a good chunk of the day there is no time left to fix all the buses.
Great work you guys
I've noticed there are very few Blue Birds in this story. I'd maybe start looking into buying Blue Bird buses.
If you buy cheap buses this is what happens. C2s have been problematic from the time they were new.
than do pre trip inspection every day our school buses (2012 IC RE) maxxforceDT those have 97,000 120,000 miles
oh nice
OH hi ray lmao
Oh god a DT
The story of the modern diesel lol... cramming more and more epa ratings forcing manufacturers to do things without even having truly tested them... ill take the dt466 over the maxxforce dt any day in terms of reliability, even though they are similar engines.
0:51 that's an ICCE Sound not a c2
yeah the c2 has the same sound as a freighliner cascadia tractor trailer truck
(seriously)
i meant freightliner
My school has a 1994 Thomas bus number 502 and 402 and 103 they still work to this day they still go on a route there older and I remember bus 713 is from probably from 1980 it's still runs to this day
No one cares
see what happens when you have a politician in a position that they really shouldn't be in. They should of hired a mechanic to run this division. Hire more mechanics and maybe have some local mechanic schools to assist to help train some future mechanics, etc.
Should check LCSS
Rip school buses
those buses are not that old, More works need to be hired to get the buses back on the road. It is unacceptable for a bus to sit week to months before getting fixed. Sounds like the money is being spent in the wrong areas. Keep up with maintenance and there should not be a problem. Inspections of buses where I live are done by the state police not bus mechanics.
Do a hidden camera investigation and you will find most daily inspections are not done. If you can see into the garage, do a hidden camera investigation on that and see how much time they actually work......
That's definitely not American.
@@cesarpalmos8235 Which part? Not doing inspections or a hidden camera investigation?
I thought this was Covid related. Many counties dont have enough mechanics as well as drivers in 2021/2022. If it was that bad then I can only imagine how bad it is in Atlanta now
This was five years ago; most likely it’s gotten worse
They buy crap buses and don't maintain them properly.... Intertrashnal is the worst next to Freightshaker busses.
Don’t agree I like bb and ic
Well sell some buses and use the money to buy new buses and also GET MORE MECHANICS
MaxxForce and Mercedes engines are the problem.
755 y like it my like, From is Azerbaydzhan and Tadzhikistan
My company toes about 5 buses a month. Guess are bus garage keeps their buses up to date
If they really want to fix it PRIVATIZE it. Problem solved no more Union run shop.
You forgot a word - no more "Democrat" union-run shop.
rip buses
If A lots of Atlanta buses broke down, Maybe the District will tell the other county's if they could have substitute buses from county's!
Looks like whoever runs the mechanics actually they need a fire every damn person in there and just hire a whole new crew cuz they don't know what they're doing and they don't care what they're doing they need to fire every damn one of them
our school still have 4 old bused
Every bus company make and model are going to have problems if you don’t maintain the properly
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John Franklin needs to be fired and somebody to put in there that knows what they're doing and knows how to take care of the business he needs to be gone
stop having so many kids
Daniel Garcia uhhh... that's not how it works buddy
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5 school bus
Probably frozen diesel.
now 7 busus ben tow 🤑🤕😭😢😤😱😰😬😩😨😧😦
The need to hire an experienced qualified crew boss/mechanic but for them to be able to get one they will have to pay a salary worthy of their experience and skill
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this is what happens when you skimp to save $$
Expensive tows ahh..only if people really knew.$165 a pop if their lucky.smh.hence the rear tow on the majority of them.county don't pay shit.expensive tows my ass
Hi
only
Lazy and greedy
Sounds like some one in the lobby is trying to get a HUGE grant for new busses. most agencies only have a 10-15% surplus in busses for maintenance rotation... To let it get to the point of 23-28%...Hurump..this is either oversight or flat out purposeful ignorance.
redneckhippiefreak you know have twitter account account for twitter app account app app twitter
If these buses keep breaking down they could just borrow other buses from other districts until they get fixed if there is no spares.