ECSD Transportation

Attention drivers! Do you know when to brake for that big yellow school bus? Knowing the rules could save you from a crash but more importantly, from striking a child with your vehicle. No one wants to do that.

So, what are the rules of the road when it comes to stopped school buses on Florida's roadways?

Motorists moving in both directions must stop when approaching a school bus with its lights activated and the stop sign extended. However, on a highway divided by a raised barrier or an unpaved median that is at least five-feet wide, a motorist traveling in the opposite direction of the stopped school bus may proceed with caution. That means the ONLY time we don't stop for a school bus that has its lights activated is when we are on the other side of a raised barrier or five-foot unpaved median, headed in the opposite direction of the bus. Even then, we proceed with caution.

Florida's departments of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Transportation, and Education have teamed up to develop Stop on Red, Kids Ahead, a statewide education campaign to remind motorists of the laws and safe practices to take when approaching a school bus. FloridaSchoolBusSafety.gov serves as the information portal for the campaign.

COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS (CNG) IN ECSD SCHOOL BUSES

The District Transportation Department has conducted a careful and thoughtful study into the viability of a transition to compressed natural gas (CNG) as a fuel source for its school buses. The consideration of an alternative fuel for publicly-owned diesel-powered school buses has many facets that invite a number of questions. Some of those questions can be answered now while many others remain and will only be answered in time as the market develops.

In order to arrive at an understanding of the facts that bear on this issue, District transportation officials examined a number of documents, attended a number of fact-finding meetings, consulted with vendors, and gathered anecdotal and factual material from school districts that have experience with CNG.

The fruits of these documents, meetings, consultations and materials have been gathered, analyzed, and presented in a report that we are pleased to offer for your reference. The discussion that follows in that report reflects a balanced consideration of the issues related to a potential transition of the Escambia County School District school bus fleet to CNG fuel. In the end, this report concludes that this is not the time to transition the District bus fleet to compressed natural gas fuel, particularly since CNG engines are not yet available in the conventional configuration utilized by the District. As the District awaits the expansion of the market to include 65- and 77-passenger buses at the right price, it will continue to track the relevant issues associated with a prospective CNG transition.

Take a look at the report entitled "CNG in Escambia School District Buses" (April 2, 2012). The report is in the Adobe Acrobat format which you can access with the free Acrobat Reader available at the Adobe website (www.adobe.com).