The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round…until
they come to a railroad track. No that’s not part of the song. However, once that bus reaches the crossing,
it stops and opens its door. . . Have you ever wondered why? Well let’s see? Is it to let the “Ghost Train Conductor”
on the bus! No not really. But I looked into the bus, and it was full
of people! Alright I’ll stop now! Before I talk about buses today, let’s briefly
look at how far we’ve come. Before it became law, school buses didn’t
have to open their doors at railroads. Sure, they stopped to check for an oncoming
train. But when visibility is low, say, in fog or
during a snowstorm, that method can prove dangerously ineffective. Everything changed in the 1930s, but the situation
still wasn’t ideal. Originally, a student was assigned as a “lookout”
during each ride. They’d get off the bus once it stopped and
look both ways down the railroad crossing. This continued until it was decided, for good
reason, that it was too big a responsibility put on these young volunteers’ shoulders. Since then, drivers have continued to open
their doors to take a good look and listen. The change has been helpful, as bus accidents
are rare these days. So, these days! Now you know it all comes down to safety and
lessons learned. By opening the door AND their side window,
a bus driver is better able to hear if a train is coming. They aren’t left to depend solely on their
vision. And if you know much about trains, then you’re
aware that they’re required by law to sound the horn each time they approach a crossing. Once a school bus driver knows for sure that
the coast is clear, they close the door and cross over. Having both your vision and hearing at work
is good, but further safety precautions are taken as well. Besides coming to a full stop 5 to 15 feet
before the crossing (plus opening the door and window), bus drivers must turn off anything
that creates distracting sounds, including the radio and fans. They also turn on their hazards so that a
vehicle approaching from behind will know to stop. These rules apply to all buses in the US and
Canada, as well as trucks carrying hazardous materials. Besides the railroad thing, I always wondered… - Why are school buses yellow? Of course, not all buses are yellow – just
look at the ones that run as part of public transit. But school buses are always that bright sunny
hue. In fact, it’s officially called School Bus
Yellow! It’s the color that stands out the most
to the human eye, day or night, peripheral vision included! The black color for the lettering was chosen
because of how well it stands out against the yellow. Ok, makes sense, but… - Why is the roof painted white? Again, not all school buses have a white roof
– it’s mostly newer models. But if you happen to run a school and your
buses don’t have it, you might consider getting the fleet a new paint job! White reflects the sun’s heat better, so
it keeps the inside of the bus 10° cooler. That’s crucial since most buses don’t
have AC. By the way, this natural cooling is one of
the reasons why most planes are all white too! - Why are the windows tinted? Again, it works as a natural coolant in a
vehicle that usually doesn’t come with air conditioning. But, doesn’t white reflect sunlight and
black absorb it? Not for windows. The dark tint blocks a lot of sunlight from
getting in, and it retains interior heat in the winter! Win-win! - Why is the steering wheel so massive? Several reasons here: first, most buses don’t
have power steering. This system normally helps the driver use
less force to turn the wheels. Buses don’t have it because there’s always
the risk that it could fail. Also, a bigger machine simply requires bigger
parts, especially without that power steering. A tiny sedan-sized steering wheel just wouldn’t
be able to turn those big front wheels because it wouldn’t create enough rotational movement,
or torque. You’d have to keep turning and turning the
steering wheel just to get the wheels to move a tiny bit. So, safety and mechanics! - Why don’t they have seatbelts? Well, that’s not always the case. In the US, it depends on the state. So far, 8 have passed laws requiring school
buses to have seatbelts. Occasionally, individual school districts
have the freedom to decide whether to implement them. They’re not really necessary since school
buses are specifically designed with safety in mind. Because they’re so large and have such close
quarters, what with all those rows and big seats, the interior serves as a sort of protective
bubble around the kids. And there’s always the worry that seatbelts
could slow down an emergency evacuation. Oh, I’ve only just begun. Here’s a quick flash-round of the most fascinating
bus facts! - There are currently about 427,000 school
buses in America alone! Alone? We should pair them up! Nah, this means they transport half the children
in the United States (roughly 26 million). By the way, did you ride the bus or did your
parents take you to school? Let me know down in the comments! - If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your
own big yellow bus, you can go to eBay now and purchase one for about $3,000. - Not licensed to drive a bus? Think outside the bus! TumbleBus converts them into smaller-scale
gymnasiums, fully equipped with mats, bars, and climbing walls! - An average school bus can reach a max of
65 mph (although local speed limit laws for them are usually much lower!). It may not seem like much, but remember: they’re
built with safety in mind above all else! - But that didn’t stop American Paul Stender
from having fun! He added a Phantom fighter jet engine to a
school bus, boosting its speed up to 366 mph! Hey, you’d never be late for school again! - The largest bus in the world is the Neoplan
Jumbocruiser. They stopped production in 1992, but the jumbo-sized
coach didn’t disappoint! The double-decker was almost 60 feet long,
versus your average city bus that’s about 40 feet in length! - In other countries outside of North America,
buses are different colors too. Obviously, you have the classic red double-deckers
in London. Seoul categorizes its public transportation
into 4 colors – blue, green, red, and yellow – depending on what parts of the city they
run to and from. - The first buses were pretty much horse-drawn
farm wagons in the late 1800s. The carriage was labeled “Public School”
and it transported children that lived far away. (Most kids still walked to school at that
time.) Students would sit around the outside of the
bus, and they didn’t have any kind of protection from the elements. Eventually, in the early 1900s, the horse
was switched out for an engine. The idea to paint them yellow came around
the 1930s. - Today, Buses are adapting with technological
advances. Just last year, Ontario added 13 electric
school buses to their collection. With electric cars on the rise, school transportation
was not to be left behind! We’ve come so far from horse-drawn carriages! What’s next? Flying buses?! Wouldn’t you love that? - According to the American School Bus Council,
buses save an estimated $7.7 billion every year! Each school bus takes the place of 36 individual
vehicles from the road, saving time on that morning commute. It helps parents out too. They don’t spend as much on gas, and it
doesn’t take extra time to get to work! - Buses also help our environment. If every child in a community rode the bus
to school, it would save more than 2 billion gallons of fuel! - They help keep school attendance numbers
up too. One education report found that students who
rode the bus were much less likely to miss school. Hard to skip when the bus is out there honking
for you, eh? - There are perks to being a school bus driver! On field trips, they’re sometimes gifted
free entrance to those destinations. Around the holidays, students and their parents
also give little presents to the drivers too! So, kids, don’t forget to thank your driver! Hey, if you learned something new today, then
give the video a like and share it with a friend! And here are some other cool videos I think
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