Horry County is considering spending around $2.5 million on 30 new school buses to replace two decade old buses that make up a majority of the fleet for the 2015-2016 school year.
The majority of Horry County Schools’ district owned buses are 20 or more years old.
“We have a very antiquated bus fleet,” said Daryl Brown.
Brown is the Interim Chief Support Services Officer with Horry County Schools.
Monday, He spoke to the Horry County Board of Education about the need to lower the average age of its bus fleet.
Brown says he is very familiar with how old the busses have become.
“I rode when I was in high school; a sophomore in high school in fact. If I rode the bus as sophomore in high school, it’s time for it to be out of the fleet,” he said.
Out of the 46 county owned buses, district officials say 35 are 20 years old or older; some as old as 27.
And those numbers cause issues for the district
“We’re having a lot of mechanical problems with them as you would any vehicle with that many miles on it and that much usage,” said Brown.
The cost of repairs and maintenance has become expensive.
Buying new buses will be expensive too.
The board already set aside $840,000 for ten new buses.
And district officials requested the school board invest the same amount into another ten buses.
However, the board felt so confident in money they had in reserves it was suggested instead of doubling its original investment they triple it, but board officials tell me it is worth the expense.
“If there were not any safety concerns, we would not be replacing the buses,” said Board Chairman Joe Defeo.
Over the next few years, the goal is to get the entire district fleet under 15 years old.
Board officials say they will make a decision on this multi-million dollar investment within the next few meetings.
