After years of delays, the Indian Lake School District has now received all the new buses that were ordered in the years since Covid...and they will finally all hit the road this week!
Bus #15--Lynne Snipes’ new bus--ran its maiden voyage on her route this afternoon. Bus #25 will be out later this week after some final inspections and detailing. Earlier this year, two other buses (#4 and #23) were put into rotation.
IL Transportation Director Pat Smith explains that we've been waiting quite a while for these new additions to the fleet.
"Since Covid, the manufacturers have had really, really long backlogs because of part availability." He continued. "But now International is getting buses pushed out in good time, so we had 4 of them land in 4 months."
IL ordered a lift handicap assessible bus in November of 2022 and received it in late 2024. IL Ordered another 78-passenger bus in 2023 and received it in January of 2025. Finally, IL ordered two more buses in November of 2024 and received them just days ago.
Smith says these buses will go a long way toward updating our fleet for efficiency and safety.
"Every new model year they do more with fuel, miles per gallon, so it reduces operating costs. They also all have lane departure, electronic stability control, better camera systems, better visibility for the driver and reinforced steel for sturdiness."
The oldest bus now running a regular route is model year 2016. Tonya Neer will be getting 25 and her former bus, as well as Lynne's, will be handed to the drivers with the two oldest route buses. We plan to auction off four buses online in the coming weeks.
Indian Lake Schools attempts to replace one or two buses per year because of the immense amount of miles they travel daily.