A 20-mile, round-trip school bus commute saves about $420 annually for each student who rides the bus. That equals about $10.9 billion nationwide — just a few facts contained on the redesigned website launched today by the American School Bus Council and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The rejuvenated SchoolBusFacts.com allows the student transportation community to distribute materials nationally that promote the benefits of the American yellow school bus as well as drive traffic to the new site. Its new slogan, “My Choice, Their Ride…,” is prominently displayed on the home page.
NHTSA partnered with ASBC with this national outreach campaign and launched the website for the first time last fall. The website went live in November following an appearance by NHTSA Administrator David Strickland at the NAPT Summit and concurrent NASDPTS annual conference in Cincinnati.
As before, the website includes graphics from the NHTSA campaign that include various informational resources such as posters and other infographics materials to explain why parents should choose the school bus over other modes of transportation for their kids, explained Clark Barrineau, ASBC’s coordinator.
Donnie Fowler, ASBC member and former president of NSTA, said the school bus industry has known for years that yellow buses are the safest way to get and from school. However, “because we’re seeing school bus service cuts all over the country, now is the time to go out and tell those who may not already know that the school bus is the most effective and efficient way to transport our most precious resource, our children,” he said.
The site also still offers a downloadable media toolkit that includes flyers to distribute to parents, Web banners and graphics, posters for school administrators and article templates to customize for distribution to local media on the benefits of school busing. Also featured are guidelines for how the materials can be used for uniformity nationwide.
Barrineau added that the site was designed by TMN, a communications firm in the Washington D.C., area, and built by New Media Campaigns, which also built the redesigned ASBC site that launched a few months ago.
“We could not be more thrilled with our partnership with NHTSA,” said Bob Riley, ASBC member and executive director of the NASDPTS. “SchoolBusFacts.com serves as an invaluable resource for us as a community of school bus advocates, and provides a one-stop shop of information for those curious about student ridership and education.”
