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Springfield Township SD staff to seek board approval to replace two aging buses
Summary
At a March 7 finance committee meeting, staff said they will seek a March 18 board motion to purchase two 84-passenger replacement buses after mechanics flagged structural and engine issues; an electric-bus pilot was paused earlier because of cost and depot infrastructure constraints.
Springfield Township School District finance staff told the district finance committee on March 7 that they will ask the board to authorize purchase of two replacement 84‑passenger buses at the March 18 board meeting if updated pricing is within expected parameters.
The committee heard that one bus is a 2005 Bluebird with “body rod issues” and other structural concerns that make it unlikely to pass future safety inspections, and the second is a 2009 Bluebird that uses a Caterpillar on‑road engine the district no longer has the diagnostic software to service efficiently. Miss Green, staff member, said, “If you remember, the last couple years, we were talking about electric buses,” but the district deferred several replacements when exploring an electric‑vehicle (EV) pilot. She said the EV pilot “just didn't flow through the funding” and that depot infrastructure constraints left the district unable to proceed at that time.
Nate Bray, staff member, described the condition of the 2005 vehicle and the difficulty of maintaining the 2009 bus with its Caterpillar engine: “At this point, we're no longer comfortable passing it on its... vehicle safety inspections,” and Caterpillar engines “are getting more expensive and more challenging to both troubleshoot and get the parts to repair.” Bray said the district expects to continue using the 2009 bus through the end of the school year but wants to avoid a catastrophic in‑season failure that could leave the fleet short several vehicles.
Staff reported preliminary cost estimates of roughly $180,000 to $200,000 per replacement bus and said they are awaiting updated pricing from a dealership. Lead times were described as roughly six to 12 months under current conditions; Bray said in a worst case industry turnaround they could face 18 to 24 months.
Committee members asked whether buying two buses now would introduce additional nonstandard vehicles into the fleet. Bray said the Caterpillar unit is an anomaly the district has mostly replaced previously and that planned replacements would use the same make and model powering most of the heavy diesel fleet, reducing future maintenance mismatches.
The committee was also told that a property committee meeting will be scheduled in April for a fuller review of the district's bus‑fleet replacement schedule and a five‑year capital plan produced by the capital assessment (referenced in the meeting as Dewey CHA). Staff said they are trying to smooth bus purchases over multiple years rather than buying a large number in a single year.
Next steps: staff will obtain final pricing from the dealer and, if the numbers fall within the parameters discussed, present a motion for the full board at the March 18 meeting to authorize purchasing the two replacement buses. The finance committee did not take a formal vote at the March 7 meeting.
Ending: The district will revisit fleet replacement and related facility needs at the April property committee meeting, and any final purchase will depend on the March 18 board action and confirmed vehicle pricing.
