Corresponding with national “Love the Bus” events held this month by the American School Bus Council and by local districts and private bus companies, the Virginia Association for Pupil Transportation is holding a rally in Richmond on Feb. 16 to raise awareness among state legislators on the positive effects of school buses on education.
The VAPT board approved a resolution last month requesting that the state’s General Assembly recognize February as “Love the Bus Month.” The result is a rally at the historic Bell Tower in Capitol Square. Michael Martin, executive director of NAPT, and Dwight Elam, VAPT president and transportation director at Mecklenberg County Public Schools, will also read the resolution.
The event will promote the message that school buses are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles in avoiding crashes and preventing injury. Attendees, including state legislators will also hear that school buses are the safest mode of transportation for getting children back and forth to school and that school buses keep an annual estimated 17.3 million cars off roads surrounding schools each morning
David Pace, transportation director at Virginia Beach City Schools and the event’s coordinator with the help of Thomas Built Buses dealer Sonny Merryman Inc., said the Love the Bus campaign has been observed for several years by individual school districts but VAPT wanted to take the Love the Bus celebration “to a higher level.” The rally on will include printed banners, solicited Love the Bus artwork from several school art classes and Love the Bus magnets and brochures to hand out to visitors. An elementary chorus will also provide a musical interlude, and refreshments will be served.
