The deadline passed for Lion Electric Company to repay loans needed to overcome hundreds of millions in debt, but the school bus manufacturer is not heading into bankruptcy, a company spokesperson said.
The statement made to School Transportation News on Tuesday came amid a Lion press release earlier in the day that highlighted use of the Companies Credit Arrangement Act (CCAA), a Canadian federal law dating back to 1933 that allows insolvent companies to avoid liquidation. This occurs through court-directed compromise or arrangement made by a debtor company and its secured creditors.
Lion on Wednesday formally applied for CCAA protection. It also said it will seek recognition of the CCAA process under chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
In the press release on Tuesday, Lion said it “is currently in discussions with its senior lenders to obtain additional funds pursuant to a new debtor-in-possession credit facility and expects to seek creditor protection” under the CCAA as it seeks to restructure its business and financial affairs. Lion added it pursues a formal sales and investment solicitation process for the company’s business or assets.
The Lion spokesperson referred to the CCAA proceedings as a “stable and structured environment” for various restructuring measures under a Revolving Credit Agreement with two lenders represented by the National Bank of Canada and a loan agreement with Finalta Capital Fund that expired on Monday. No timeline was given for when the CCAA agreements will be finalized.
On Dec. 1, Lion announced the latest of four amendments to the Revloving Credit Agreement and an extension of the Finalta Capital loan agreement, a halt to all production at its manufacturing plant in Joliet, Illinois, and the laying off an additional 400 workers on top of the 120 employees laid off in April. The company has trimmed its workforce from nearly 1,300 employees to about 300.
A separate SEC filing that same day announced the Nicolas Brunet resigned as president.
Four days later, Lion said it reached an agreement to sell its Quebec innovation center for $35 million U.S. The company noted in its third-quarter financial results total liabilities of $500 million and a net loss of nearly $75 million as of Sept. 30.
The latest personnel move related to the Lion Electric Company monetary issues is Nicolas Brunet, who the company announced is resigned as president 14 months after he was tapped for the position.
Lion made no formal announcement, with a note indicating Brunet was leaving the company immediately tucked away on the second to last page of an SEC filing dated Dec. 1. That same day, the company announced it was halting production at its Joliet, Illinois, factory and was laying over 400 workers.
Nicolas Brunet
Lion has until Dec. 16 to pay back four creditors unless it can secure additional investments or find a company to purchase it.
Brunet joined the company headquartered in Saint-Jerome, Quebec, in 2019 and was executive vice president and CFO before being named president on Sept. 28, 2023.
A company spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday on Brunet’s departure but added that Marc Bedard remains chief executive officer. Bedard founded Lion Electric as Autobus Lion, or Lion Bus, in 2008 after previously serving as an executive for Type A school bus manufacturer Corbeil, which closed the previous year.
Lion’s first school bus was the Lion 360 in 2011, a diesel Type C model developed in partnership with Spartan Chassis. The company transitioned to only manufacturing electric school buses and rebranded itself as Lion Electric in 2017. Two years later it began manufacturing electric trucks.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is extending by two years an exemption granted to the National School Transportation Association that allows school bus driver applicants to skip the engine compartment portion of the pre-trip inspection skills testing requirement when obtaining their commercial driver’s license.
The exemption of the so-called “under-the-hood” test was published in the Federal Register on Monday. It covers the period of Nov. 28, 2024, through Nov. 28, 2026. NSTA had requested a five-year extension.
FMCSA originally issued a temporary three-month waiver of the under-the-hood test on Jan. 3, 2022, an attempt to alleviate the school bus driver shortage. States were allowed but not required to waive a requirement that school bus driver applicants identify engine components. The waiver only applied to school buses and no other commercial vehicles.
The move has not come with out opposition. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety questioned why the engine compartment component of the skills test would be critical for all CDL drivers except school bus drivers, and it wrote that all CDL holders should be held to the same standard.
“The Minnesota DPS also stated that it is burdensome and confusing to program software for a temporary change, as well as to train law enforcement to understand and recognize the restriction,” noted in a comment on the Federal Register.
Meanwhile, the Iowa Department of Transportation stated that it represents one of the few states to adopt the waiver and has found it overly burdensome and confusing to implement, which has caused delays.
As Lion Electric attempts to stay afloat amid hemorrhaging cash and rising debt, the company announced a Quebec innovation center is being sold amid the latest workforce reduction that halted production at an Illinois electric vehicle factory that opened not quite a year and a half ago.
On Sunday, Lion announced the latest amendments to its senior revolving credit agreement, the fourth such move this year, extending the maturity agreement with lenders from Nov. 30 to Dec. 16. Lion said this will allow the company to maintain minimum liquidity needs for continued operation.
“Such additional liquidity will also provide the company with additional time to continue to actively evaluate potential alternatives relating to a restructuring of its obligations, a sale of the business or certain of its assets, strategic investments and/or any other alternatives, including seeking creditor protection … There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in pursuing and implementing any such alternatives, nor any assurance as to the outcome or timing of any such alternatives,” according to a press release.
Lion also announced it was temporarily laying off 400 additional employees in both the U.S. and Canada. The company laid off 520 workers earlier this year. The latest workforce reduction suspends all production at the Joliet, Illinois, facility, which opened in July 2023 to much fanfare.
The company added that it has approximately 300 employees remaining that will focus on bus manufacturing, sales, service, delivery and maintenance.
On Thursday, Lion said it reached a definitive agreement to sell its innovation center in Mirabel, Quebec to Aéroport de Montreal for $50 million Canadian, about $35.65 million.
“As a result, while the transaction is expected to reduce [Lion’s] long-term indebtedness, it will not impact the company’s short-term liquidity and cash position,” the statement read.
On Nov. 30, the New York Stock Exchange began delisting Lion warrants citing “abnormally low selling price” levels. Since September, company revenue is down nearly 62 percent, with net income down 71 percent.
Lion was the first all-electric school bus manufacturer to reach market in 2017. It has over 2,200 total electric vehicles including trucks on the road.
School Transportation News staff weigh many factors when looking for the next Transportation Director of the Year. Accomplishments in the industry, especially over the past couple of years, weigh heavily. So, too, do their leadership skills. There are
plenty of options to choose from each year, which is a good thing. It can also make the selection a daunting one. Thankfully, we have many examples to use as a litmus test for what makes a strong and successful director of transportation.
Look no further than George Edward (Ed) Donn. You may have read at stnonline.com/go/kp that Ed died last month at the age of 85. He was one of the most decorated student transporters in the industry’s history. He was also as nice as he was knowledgeable about his trade. The dictionary should have Ed’s photo next to the word “gentleman.”
I was saddened when, during an introduction of the NAPT Foundation board members at last month’s Annual Conference and Trade Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, it was mentioned that Ed was unable to attend. I wondered about his health. I knew he was heartbroken following the death of wife Sandi in 2001. I spoke to him several times since then, most recently this past spring. He was still the same old Ed, kind, complimentary, insightful, and asking about my family. But something was different.
My heart was lightened upon learning that he died peacefully at a hospital in Marietta, Georgia, located about an hour southwest of his home in Calhoun. He relocated there in the early 1990s after retiring from Washington County Public Schools in Maryland, where he served as director of transportation for 16 years. Before that, he was the assistant director at Prince George’s County Public Schools also in Maryland.
He not only left an impression on tens of thousands of student riders over his career but as many student transportation professionals. It was Ed who co-founded the NAPT Foundation and the NAPT Professional Development Series. He was immortalized in the NAPT Hall of Fame for his efforts and received the NAPT Distinguished Service Award. He was an entrepreneur, co-founding video surveillance company Bus Vision and then 24/7 Security.
But knowing Ed, his accomplishments were never about himself but others, especially the students who ride school buses every day and the many professionals who make the service work. Always giving of his time, both humbly and generously, he was as genuine as they come. The consummate family man. Mind as sharp as a tack. In his hey-day, he was quite the track athlete as well.
After he passed on Oct. 10, I reflected on the parallels between his life and STN’s director of the year honor, which we recognize this month. Innovative. Leader. Transparent. Giving. Check, check, check, check. The recognition could very well be renamed the Ed Donn Transportation Director of the Year Award.
A lifelong resident of the San Diego, California area, Beaver retired as director of transportation from Grossmont Union High School District in January 2015 and relocated to Oregon, where he joined Beaverton School District. It was destiny, as Beaver says, to reinvent himself in the Pacific Northwest at one of Oregon’s largest school districts, his namesake, so to speak.
With that move, he has ushered in the state’s largest fleet of electric school buses and with them data to illustrate performance and cost savings. He readily shares that information and the many lessons he learned about implementation and deployment to anyone who asks. He’s willing to try new things and is not afraid of failure. He empowers his staff to see if they can make new ideas work, which sometimes means recalibrating. For his efforts, he also accepted the Leading Public Fleet Award for Beaverton School District at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May.
Beaver and all those who came before him, and will come after, have large shoes to fill left by Ed Donn. But surely, he is looking down from heaven with pride. Ed was ready and willing to support and celebrate all endeavors and people that put school buses in a positive light and that lead to successful outcomes for the children who ride them.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the November 2024 issue of School Transportation News.
Three students were struck and killed by their own school bus and another three were similarly killed by illegal passing motorists during the 2023-2024 school year, according to a national survey of states.
The National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey results were shared on Sunday by Keith Dreiling, the state director of the school bus safety unit at the Kansas State Department of Education, during the annual meeting of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services in Arlington, Virginia. The six fatalities are double the amount reported by states for the 2022-2023 school year.
Two of last year’s fatalities occurred in New York. Both students there were killed by their school bus. An 8-year-old boy was struck on Jan. 29 by his school bus and killed by the right rear wheel after he reportedly ran in front of the vehicle as it was pulling into its loading zone at school. A 5-year-old girl was killed nearly three weeks later on Feb. 16, after she unloaded from her school bus and crossed in front of it. The school bus driver reportedly did not see her and began to accelerate, striking the girl and knocking her to the pavement. The bus continued forward and the left rear wheels killed the girl.
The other fatality caused by the school bus occurred on Jan. 17 in Florida, where a boy exited the vehicle and then dropped a football. He crawled beneath the school bus to retrieve it and in the process was struck and killed by the right rear dual wheels.
The three illegal passing fatalities occurred in Alabama, Georgia and Texas. The Alabama and Texas incidents involved 15-year-old students, the former a subject of a high-profile investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. A 15-year-old girl was in her front yard on Oct. 23, 2023, and about to board her morning school bus, when a truck following the school bus failed to stop, swerved to the right, and continued into the girl’s path, striking her and then her house.
The Texas fatality occurred on Dec. 7 last year, when an 18-wheel, tractor-trailer truck struck a vehicle in front of it that was properly stopped for the school bus. The truck driver then swerved to the right and struck the 15-year-old boy after he exited his bus.
An 8-year-old Georgia girl died on Feb. 4, three days after being hit by an illegally passing oncoming motorist as she was attempting to board her school bus. The incident resulted in Addy’s Law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in April, to increase the fine for illegal school bus passers and add a prison term.
The school buses in the Alabama, Georgia and Texas incidents all had their red lights flashing and stop arms activated at the time of the collisions.
All U.S. states and the District of Columbia responded to the Kansas State Department of Education survey except New Jersey and Rhode Island, which refused to participate. The six recorded fatalities equal the amount reported for the 2021-2022 school year. The incidents all occurred in dry road conditions, with three occurring in daylight, two at dusk and one at dawn. Five of the fatalities occurred in clear weather conditions while one occurred in cloudy conditions.
The survey began in 1970 and has been conducted every year since. About 73 percent of the 1,273 total student fatalities recorded over the 54-year survey were students 9 years of age or younger. School buses have accounted for 717 of the total fatalities compared to 502 by illegally passing motorists and 54 categorized as “other information.” Sixty-four percent of all fatalities occurred during the morning commute to school.
FRISCO, Texas — School transportation professionals face unique challenges in keeping students safe from sexual abuse, especially those who have disabilities.
“Students are at greater risk of sexual abuse during transportation due to factors like access, privacy, and power dynamics,” explained Christy Schiller, the vice president of consulting for abuse prevention firm Praesidium during a Sunday general session at TSD Conference. “Drivers and aides have a lot of unsupervised contact with students, and there are often opportunities for privacy that predators can exploit.”
Schiller has over 30 years of experience in this field. She emphasized the importance of strategic supervision.
“If you’re not exhausted at the end of the day from vigilantly monitoring students, you’re not doing it right,” she added.
The session covered statistics on the scope of the problem, the dynamics of both adult-to-student and student-to-student abuse, and practical strategies student transportation providers can implement to mitigate these risks. Schiller urged attendees to also educate parents on the warning signs and importance of prevention.
“This abuse is preventable if we’re proactive about creating the safest possible environment,” Schiller said. “Student transportation providers play a critical role in protecting this vulnerable population.”
The discussion focused on enhancing abuse prevention and safety culture in organizations. That includes training and retraining staff to ensure that no actions with students can be misconstrued.
“Just because an adult shows a red flag behavior does not necessarily mean they’re grooming a student. It may just mean we need to remind them that we have a new normal now,” she added.
Meanwhile, she addressed the evolution of understanding grooming tactics, moving away from the “dangerous stranger” framework to recognizing the “skilled predator.” Schiller shared research indicating that survivors often reported an average of 14 unique grooming behaviors prior to the abuse occurring.
“It’s very common that we see these behaviors, I would argue, though not all of these behaviors have the same type of intent,” she noted.
Schiller emphasized the importance of conducting thorough background checks and screening, not only for transportation staff but volunteers who may have high levels of access to students.
“When there’s an incident, the plaintiff’s attorneys are saying, we want to see their personnel file, and so documenting that you have screened, you’ve talked to former employers” is crucial.
The discussion also highlighted the need for training on boundaries, separating the behavior from the person, and proactively monitoring high-risk situations. “If we can manage boundaries, we’re going to prevent a lot of abuse because we want to interrupt those behaviors early, and we want to teach people to separate the person from the behavior,” Schiller said.
She emphasized that creating a supportive environment where staff feel comfortable reporting concerns without fear of repercussions is essential. By addressing these issues, schools and districts can work to ensure the safety and well-being of students while fostering a culture of trust and accountability.
Parental involvement is also important, she said, in setting boundaries and reporting concerns as is the need for swift, compassionate responses to allegations, and the role of leadership in maintaining vigilance.
The conversation highlighted the challenges of “pass the trash” laws, which rely on self-disclosure by job applicants that they have not been previously charged or accused but perhaps not convicted of a prior crime, and emphasized the necessity of thorough screening processes and continuous monitoring. Schiller also discussed the importance of a culture that values safety, clear standards, and effective communication across all levels and with external partners was underscored, along with the necessity of addressing the forgetting curve to sustain safety initiatives.
FRISCO, Texas — Plano Independent School District located just miles from the TSD Conference this weekend claimed the top two spots in the annual roadeo and training competition as Texas continued its dominance of the event.
The team of Andwain Coleman and Mohmed Omera tied coworkers Mohsen Al Asad and Nabila Audi with scores of 889 out of a possible 1,020 points. Alexandra Robinson, the lead coordinator for the roadeo organizer Women in Transportation. (wit.) group and a TSD Conference Tenured Faculty member, said during a banquet Saturday night hosted by lead sponsor Q’Straint/Sure-Lok that the roadeo judges broke the tie by comparing times for finishing the event.
Coleman and Omera clinched the victory as their time was six minutes faster than that of Al Asad and Audi. Robinson said it was the first time in the roadeo’s 30-year history that such a tiebreaker was needed. It was the fourth consecutive win for a Texas team over the dating back to 2019. The competition was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team of Elizabeth Berninger and Jennifer Gue representing the Washington Association for Pupil Transportation took home third place with a score of 885 points. Ten teams competed at host Frisco ISD in 9 events or stations and also took a written test.
Coleman finished second in last year’s competition and said he partnered with Omera earlier this year after his previous partner was promoted to a different position. It was Coleman’s third consecutive year competing in the event. This was Omera’s second national competition.
When asked about their confidence following the competition, Coleman said, “Ain’t nobody perfect, I know we had some mess ups there, but I know overall we did pretty good.”
Coleman and Omera both have been driving for Plano ISD for the past six school years, with Coleman previously driving a truck for 20 years.
Looking ahead, Coleman and Omera confirmed they plan to compete at the roadeo competition and training next year, as they already won their Texas district competition. The next step is competing in regionals in March.
When discussing the challenges of their Plano ISD school bus routes, Coleman and Omera cited student behavior and other motorists on the road as the biggest daily challenges they face.
FRISCO, Texas – In a proactive move to address growing concerns over incidents of abuse and neglect on school buses, transportation leaders from across the nation gathered for a training seminar focused on building effective programs for school bus attendants and monitors.
The TSD Conference “Best Practices for the Training of School Bus Monitors & Aides” seminar on Friday, led by Launi Schmutz-Harden and Randall Crawford, brought together a room full of transportation professionals eager to learn, problem-solve and share best practices.
“Safety has to be the top priority, and that starts with ensuring our bus attendants have the right training, tools and support to handle any situation that may arise,” said Schmutz-Harden, a TSD Tenured Faculty member who retired after 30 years as a school transportation director in Utah. “We can’t afford to underestimate the abilities of these students or the importance of having qualified, well-trained staff on our buses.”
The training covered a range of critical topics, from understanding the unique needs of students with disabilities to mastering de-escalation techniques and emergency preparedness. Attendees also discussed the challenges of hiring qualified candidates and the importance of ongoing collaboration with human resources, special education departments and other key stakeholders.
“It’s not enough to just provide the bare minimum training,” said Crawford, director of transportation for Clay County Schools in Jacksonville, Florida. “We have to be proactive in equipping our bus attendants with the knowledge and skills to handle the real-world situations they’ll face on a daily basis.”
One key takeaway from the three-hour seminar was the need for hands-on, scenario-based training that allows attendants to practice skills like properly securing students in wheelchairs or responding to behavioral outbursts. Attendees also emphasized the value of learning from past failures and using those experiences to continuously improve their training programs.
Schmutz-Harden and Crawford provided attendees with several real-life scenarios to discuss and problem-solve.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but by sharing our challenges and successes, we can all learn from each other and raise the bar for student transportation safety,” said Harden.
As school districts across the country grapple with staffing shortages and budgetary constraints, the TSD Monitor Training Seminar underscored the critical importance of investing in comprehensive training programs for school bus attendants. With the safety and well-being of students at stake, transportation leaders are committed to making this a top priority.
Schmutz-Harden and Crawford discussed with attendees the challenges of hiring qualified attendants, including physical fitness requirements and communication skills. The discussion covered the importance of comprehensive training covering student behavior management, emergency preparedness, understanding disabilities, the need for collaboration with HR, special education departments, and other stakeholders to develop robust training programs and identifying any gaps or needs, sharing of real-world examples and failures to learn from and improve training, emphasis on ongoing communication, monitoring, and continuous improvement of training efforts.
The session also discussed the legal and compliance requirements for training monitors, including CPR and first aid certification. The attendees shared their experiences with training requirements and the challenges of finding time to conduct training.
Harden-Schmutz and Crawford emphasized the importance of meeting legal requirements and the potential financial implications of not doing so. The group discussed the need for better training on legal requirements and the importance of ongoing training and support for monitors. This, they concluded, should include a process of conducting ride checks, either in person or using video monitoring to ensure protocols are being followed.
“Checks and balances –if you don’t have that, put it in place because you can find those actionable items that are there,” Crawford added.
The main action items for attendees at the conclusion of the seminar were to evaluate their current practices, advocate for increased training resources, and explore partnerships to enhance their bus attendant training programs.
Randall Crawford speaks during the TSD Conference monitor and aide training seminar on Nov. 8, 2024. Photo by Vincent Rios Creative.
TSD Conference continues Friday morning with a keynote and workshop titled “De-escalation with Dignity …” by behavioralist Jo Mascorro. The NHTSA eight-hour Child Passenger Safety on School Buses hands-on seminar is also held at Frisco ISD.
The Propane Education & Research Council presents the Lunch and Learn session “Do Quieter Buses Really Have an Effect on Special Needs Students?” Two-three hour seminars feature The Foundations of Special Needs Transportation and Best Practices for the Training of School Bus Monitors & Aides.
Meanwhile, wheelchair securement training is offered for special needs roadeo contestants as well as TSD Conference attendees during the AMF-Bruns Wheelchair Securement Boot Camp & Certification and Q’Straint-Sure-Lok Wheelchair Securement Training.
In August, I was contacted by a writer for Slate magazine to comment on school startup challenges. Inevitably, the conversation turned to the school bus driver shortage.
The writer and I spoke about a number of issues for over 30 minutes. We could have talked for three days. Only one of my comments made his article, “School bus drivers have not been at the top of the payscale, and the work has traditionally attracted a lot of older folks.”
The reporter followed with a summary of my explanation about the impact COVID-19 had in causing some transportation employees to retire or otherwise leave the industry prematurely. He reiterated what I told him about the increased competition for drivers from the likes of not only Amazon but also Uber, Lyft and the increasing number of student-focused, alternative transportation companies. Even from neighboring school districts and school bus contractors.
What didn’t make the article was the efforts the school transportation industry has been making to attract and retain drivers, like increasing salaries and bettering workplace culture.
As to the latter, he alluded to what I referred to as the top one or two challenges facing school bus drivers: Student and parent behavior. In a subsequent interview with a Bloomberg News reporter, I expanded on this topic, discussing the demoralization of school bus drivers who feel they are not adequately supported by school district administrators and principals because of a lack of understanding about the vital role transportation plays in a child’s educational day. That importance is illustrated by the ongoing issue playing out in Chicago Public Schools.
There, special education advocates have filed the latest complaint against the third-largest school district in the U.S. for a lack of required transportation for students with disabilities. Months after it emerged from special monitoring by the Illinois State Board of Education, with a grade of “sufficient progress” on solving unreliable school busing, CPS once again finds itself in the crosshairs as the ongoing school bus driver shortage had resulted in over 2,200 students with IEPs awaiting routes at this report. The school district did increase, by 5 percent, the number of students with disabilities on school buses from the start of school on Aug. 26 through the second week of September.
A district spokesperson noted for Chalkbeat Chicago that the number of certified school bus drivers also increased over last school year. But as special education advocates noted in their complaint, the lack of bus service amounts to “widespread denial” of a “free and appropriate education.”
There is no simple solution to ongoing school bus shortages, which have been an issue for decades. Certainly COVID-19 played a large role in exacerbating them. So, too, have elongated delays between new driver applicant training and them receiving their commercial driver’s license. As I explained to the Bloomberg News reporter, few people outside of transportation circles comprehend the time necessary to train, background check and certify school bus drivers. The slightest delay could mean losing the applicant to another job and starting the entire process over again.
Meanwhile, students and their parents are losing out. I often hear that the school transportation model is “broken.” I prefer to say it is unsustainable in its current form. It’s not for a lack of trying, but evolution is necessary, and it’s fixable. This comes via fresh ideas and continued hard work. Student transportation, traditionally speaking, is well-versed in the former, not so much the latter.
Today, more than any other time before it, new solutions are required as are new leadership perspectives. The industry will also take increased funding from state legislatures and voters, but that requires transparency and efficiency like never before. For example, non-traditional school bus services, when done correctly, which contributor and special needs expert Linda Bluth discusses this month. Student ridership verification and school bus location apps promote goodwill with parents. Increased public-private partnerships, like what school bus contractor Alltown Bus Service in Chicago is doing with Wilber Wright College, develop streamlined career pathways for commercial driver’s license holders.
Necessity is the mother of innovation. And student transporters and their operations have a lot of needs to fulfill, the most important being the services their students and parents rely on. Keep an open mind to the possibilities and strive to be a solution.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the October 2024 issue of School Transportation News.
Federal legislation seeking to require lap/shoulder seatbelts on school buses as well as stability control systems and automatic braking is before Congress for the fifth time since 2018.
Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, who co-introduced each previous House Democrat iteration as companion bills to efforts led by Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, reintroduced the School Bus Safety Act on Tuesday in the House. The legislation would implement recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) require three-point seatbelts in all school buses.
Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee
To date, NHTSA has only required lap/shoulder seatbelts in school buses that weigh 10,000 pounds or less. Meanwhile, it recommends the occupant restraint systems but only when a school district can afford to purchase and install them.
“There is no more precious cargo than school-aged children entrusted by their parents for a ride to school. The commonsense measures recommended by the NTSB and called for in this legislation will save young lives,” Cohen said in a statement. “We’ve seen too many deaths and serious injuries in school bus accidents in Tennessee and elsewhere, and it is past time we act to save young lives.”
NTSB applauded the School Bus Safety Act reintroduction.
“School buses are often touted as the safest vehicles on our roads, and yet the NTSB continues to investigate crashes that result in preventable fatalities and injuries involving children, adults who accompany them, and other road users,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “Every school bus crash serves as a painful reminder of the cost of inaction. … The NTSB will not rest until the number of lives lost to school bus tragedies is zero.”
In addition to seatbelts, the bill would require automatic emergency braking, electronic stability controls, event data recorders, firewalls separating the engine compartment from the passenger compartment, and fire suppression systems for engine fires.
Duckworth was joined by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio in reintroducing the bill in the Senate last September. It has remained in the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
From new school bus monitor training best-practices to workshopping real-life transportation and management scenarios, next month’s TSD Conference in Frisco, Texas, offers transporters of students with disabilities and special needs the latest in innovative solutions and ideas.
The agenda highlights tried-and-true topics such as the Foundations of Special Need Transportation seminar on Friday, Nov. 8, which provides both new and experienced student transporters with vital information on the Individuals with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act as well as the necessary operational considerations necessary of both school districts and vehicle contractors.
Best Practices for the Training of School Bus Monitors & Aides seminar, also on Nov. 8, is new this year. It defines the critical roles and responsibilities aides and monitors have during commutes in school buses and other vehicles, and it explores how to pull all the information together into a handbook for training and oversight.
Praesidium, a leading training organization that seeks to prevent abuse, makes its inaugural appearance at TSD Conference this year. A representative will present Preventing Sexual Abuse During Transportation. The general session, which immediately follow’s special education attorney Betsey Helfrich’s Avoiding the Bumps and Legal Hazards session, will address how abuse happens, current trends, and best practices for mitigating this risk with updated policies, training on boundaries and red-flag behaviors, and supervision strategies.
Several sessions pinpoint the collaboration needed between school districts and contractors for either traditional school bus routes or non-traditional alternative vehicles. A general session on Monday, Nov. 11 features a discussion ahead of the National Congress on School Transportation, where state delegations will weigh standardized verbiage for guiding how student transporters weigh the different services available and provide oversight.
One of the closing general sessions on Tuesday, Nov. 12, is What’s the Worst That Could Happen? On-the-Spot Decision Making. The panel discussion will present four real-life scenarios to attendees split into groups can develop solutions in a matter of minutes with only the information they have at the time.
Meanwhile, collaboration between school districts and school bus contractors returns as a much-needed topic during breakout sessions on Sunday, Nov. 10. It will expand on information that attendees will receive during Foundations of Special Needs to start the weekend.
Another scheduled session on Sunday will look at the intricacies of transporting medically fragile students and the training that school bus drivers and aides need as well as the information sharing required with health care providers. The topic of risk management of follows, as Joanie Arnott, the risk manager for the Texas Association of School Boards, fields a panel discussion about everyday operational issues that can create headaches for student transporters.
The 2024 Transportation Director of the Year selected by School Transportation News will also be honored during a special presentation Saturday morning, Nov. 9, sponsored by Blue Bird.
A ride and drive event is joined Friday night, Nov. 8 by a technology demonstration. The TSD Trade Show opens Sunday evening and continues Monday morning following the general session panel on alternative transportation choices.
The National Association for Pupil Transportation is honoring the life and work of George Edward (Ed) Donn, who died on Thursday at a hospital in Marietta, Georgia. He was 85.
Donn was a sitting board member on the NAPT Foundation, the member education vehicle for NAPT that he helped form in 1999 with the late Don Carnahan and Tom Celitti. He served two terms as NAPT president in 1986-1987 and 1995-1997, only the second to be elected twice along with Carnahan.
NAPT recognized Donn with its Distinguished Service Award in 1992 and inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
“Ed was an amazing gentleman, leader, and colleague. I valued his wisdom and dedication to our industry. His unwavering commitment to the organization will leave an indelible mark on our community,” said NAPT and Foundation Executive Director and CEO Molly McGee Hewitt in an email to members on Saturday.
George Edward (Ed) Donn’s career in student transportation spanned more than 60 years.
An accompanying NAPT statement added that Donn “played a crucial role in shaping NAPT’s mission that promoted safety, education and support for all involved in the student transportation sector.
“His insights and expertise were invaluable, guiding many initiatives that have benefited countless individuals. Beyond his professional contributions, Ed was known for his kindness and generosity; he took the time to mentor fellow members by sharing his knowledge, embodying a spirit of collaboration and teamwork.”
He helped develop and implement the NAPT Professional Certification Program and served as a state delegate for five National Conferences on School Transportation. He served as co-chair of the school bus specifications section at the 11th NCST in 1990 and the 12th NCST in 1995. He was also a board member on the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) Supplier’s Council.
On Monday, NASDPTS released a statement calling Donn “an industry icon and gentleman.”
After retiring from Whitfield County Public Schools in Georgia as director of transportation in 2001, Donn co-founded school bus surveillance company 247 Security in 2005 with his Bus Vision business partners Rick Oram and Robert Scott after the company was purchased by Quang Nguyen, the owner of Toronto MicroElectronics and current CEO and CTO of 247 Security.
“Ed offered his vision of the school bus industry, after a long career in pupil transportation, and was a huge influence on the development of 247 Security into a leading brand in the school bus industry,” Scott said in an email to School Transportation News on Saturday. “Ed was a dear friend over these past 20 plus years up. He was our roadmap across the country as we worked to build 247 Security from the ground up. I don’t know if I have ever met someone as well liked by all as Ed. He always wanted to know what he could do to help.”
Scott added that Donn “was like a big brother to me” and called him “generous with his advice and had a keen sense of the needs of those around him.”
“I will miss our long talks that covered a broad range of topics. Those talk could turn into debates and I’m pretty sure he figured that he never lost one! I will miss my friend,’ Scott concluded.
Several times a year, STN would seek Donn’s counsel on a variety of topics related to the school bus industry and its history.
His career began in 1962 as a biology teacher and track coach for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. He told STN that he became the assistant director of transportation in 1966 because the role resulted in a pay increase. What he didn’t know about student transportation he learned over the next eight-plus years.
He then accepted a principal position with Washington County Schools, also in Maryland, in 1972 and within three years was named the director of transportation. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1991 and his move to Georgia and Whitfield County Public Schools. He was also an active member of the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation.
After co-founding 247 Security, Donn was a fixture at industry trade shows representing the company, where he served as a consultant. He also owned his own consulting company, Donn Associates, since 1985.
Donn attended the University of Maryland on a track scholarship and graduated with a biology degree. He later obtained is master’s degree in administration and supervision from Frostburg State University.
Donn was preceded in death by Sandi, his wife of 60 years. He is survived by daughters, Cheryl Melis and Leslie Watt (Don Watt); four grandchildren, Chelsea Melis, Gabriella Melis, Lauren Watt Luke (Patrick Luke), and Adam Watt (Lauren Johnson Watt); and sister-in-law Delores (Dodie) Kennedy Barnes.
His funeral is planned for Oct. 19 at Calhoun First Presbyterian Church in Calhoun, Georgia. More details are available online.
Ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast and mass evacuations, school districts across the state have been preparing for the so-called “storm of the century.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Milton is a “dangerous major hurricane” that was expected to make landfall Wednesday evening. Earlier Wednesday, NOAA said Milton was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of about 145 mph. The massive storm is projected to cut across the Florida peninsula and remain a hurricane until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. A storm surge of 15 feet or greater is expected all along the Florida Gulf Coast, with the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers areas especially impacted.
Many areas along the Gulf Coast are still recovering from Hurricane Helene that hit a week ago.
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted that even if Milton weakens before making landfall, it “will be a major hurricane with catastrophic impacts on our state … Time is running out …”
While many Florida residents evacuated out of state, DeSantis advised that even evacuations of 10 miles away from the coast can help residents avoid the deadly storm surge. He said everyone should be prepared for widespread power outages. Florida also has over 50,000 electrical linemen “and all the necessary equipment staged just outside of Milton’s path.”
School Transportation News reached out to several school districts to gauge how they were preparing for Milton. Orange County Public Schools serving the Orlando area was the only one to respond at this report.
While Orlando is normally a destination for residents seeking shelter from hurricanes, as most reduce to a tropical storm by the time they get there, Milton is expected to also cause tornados in addition to torrential rain and flooding. William Wen, the senior director of transportation services for Orange County Public Schools, told STN on Tuesday that staff begins topping of school bus fuel tanks 24 hours out from a storm’s arrival.
“When we shut down, all buses will nearly be full and our fuel suppliers can top off our tanks at our fuel islands at six locations,” he said. “With the buses full and fueling stations at capacity, we can operate for about 1 week without needing another fuel delivery, if needed. It’s important to be ready to support schools to reopen for students as soon as it is safe after a storm event.”
The transportation department is also part of the District Incident Management Team, which is led by the OCPS Safety and Emergency Management (SEM) department. Leaders from all district departments make up the team.
“When a storm is approaching, regular virtual meetings are set up for storm updates, to review what each department is doing in preparation of the storm, how we can support each other, and to review plans for recovery,” Wen explained.
The district’s SEM Department communicates closely with the local and state offices of emergency management, Wen continued. The SEM department assigns staff to the local county emergency operations center as the district provides schools for shelters as needed.
“Transportation services serves as the back up to the local transit authority for mass evacuations,” he added. “At the start of each school year, we gather a list of school bus drivers that are willing to help during an emergency for us to call when needed.”
Wen noted that all OCPS transportation sites are located above flood zones, so the devastation that coastal districts can sustain is usually not the case in Orlando. “We are anticipating tropical storm sustained winds up to 65 mph and hurricane level wind gusts up to 75 to 90 mph from Milton,” he said.
Transportation staff also remove anything from parking lots and facilities that can blow away, and older buses are parked around the buildings to block major debris from hitting windows and doors, he explained. The buses are parked together with passenger doors facing inward to minimize winds from blowing them open. Stop arms are secured to prevent them from being blown out.
“Once all the buses are back from the last runs, we park the older buses to circle around the rest to protect them from wind and debris damage,” Wen shared.
Orange County Public School buses are parked in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Ian in September 2022.
After a storm passes, “when it’s safe to venture out,” Wen said, area transportation managers visit their services areas to determine if roads are flooded or blocked by debris. They report to the senior transportation staff member assigned to the OCPS emergency coordination center the areas that need attention for debris removal and traffic signal repairs.
OCPS is closed Wednesday through Friday due to the storm and will reopen on Tuesday after an already scheduled student holiday-teacher workday on Monday. The Florida Department of Education said 46 county school districts are closed Wednesday, 45 on Thursday, and 29 on Friday.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Clint Swindall emphasized the power of mindset and positivity in driving engagement and success with a keynote at the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s Annual Conference and Trade Show.
Swindall is president and CEO of Verbalocity, Inc., a personal development company with a focus on leadership enhancement, and a certified speaking professional by National Speaker’s Association. He began his keynote, “Mindset Matters,” on Sunday by acknowledging the audience as heroes for choosing careers that benefit children. “I believe that anyone who has chosen in any way whatsoever, in their professional lives, to somehow benefit a child, I believe that makes you a hero,” said the nationally certified speaker.
However, Swindall noted that even heroes can struggle with disengagement, citing Gallup research showing that only 30 percent of employees are truly engaged, people he calls the “Oh, yeah’s.” Meanwhile, 53 percent are disengaged but show up every day and do their job. But they won’t go above and beyond. He calls this group the “Okay’s.” The remaining 17 percent are actively disengaged, the “Oh, no” employee.
“Research shows that when we don’t understand how what we do every day, how that ties into something more meaningful than just a job, it breeds mediocrity and it breeds disengagement,” he explained.
Clint Swindall
A given person could bounce back and forth between being an “Oh yeah, “Okay” and “Oh no” multiple times in the same day depending on their mood, he added.
The key to overcoming disengagement, according to Swindoll, lies in cultivating a positive mindset. He emphasized that “everything that happens in our life starts with mindset” and that inner dialogue determines a person’s efforts and, ultimately, successes. And this translates to one’s personal life as much as their work life, because everyone who is married or has children no matter their job title are leaders. They are actively trying to influence their spouse’s and childrens’ behaviors. They do the same thing at work.
“If I raced out of this room right now and I got to the person who knows you best in this world, and I asked them, when life happens to you, where is your focus? Do you go through a dreadful day and then just go down the laundry list of all the things that didn’t work when you walk in the door at the end of the day and you focus on all of that?”
Swindall shared personal anecdotes to illustrate his points. He recounted a story about a former employee who always focused on the negative or “bad stuff” that happened to her, or BS.
“What were you thinking that meant?” Swindall ribbed the audience.
Adding BS to constant complaining, or CC, plus excessive pessimism, or EP, equals N for negativity.
Each of us thinks about 48,000 negative thoughts a day, or 95 percent of the 60,000 total thoughts within the average human brain, he noted. That’s the negativity bias fostered by our environment growing up that affects all humans.
The centerpiece of Swindall’s message was the concept of “tell me something good,” which is also the name of one of his books. Instead of exchanging the common greeting of “How are you,” he instead asks people he encounters to tell him a good thing that happened to them recently. This forces the person to not focus on the negative but the positive. He described this as a culture-changing concept. By shifting conversations and organizational culture to focus on the positive, Swindoll believes leaders can foster greater engagement and success.
“If you want to be a better person that gets past some of the negativity in the world. Get past this need to be right all the time,” Swindall advised. “If you want to be a better leader of helping people become more engaged, to help them get past the negativity in their lives, challenge them with tell me something good. Make it a part of your culture.”
Swindall said he has trained himself, his employees and thousands of conference attendees worldwide to actively seek out the positive things happening and to celebrate wins. He has gone as far as stocking up on champagne at his company so that he and his employees can celebrate weekly.
“I live a life that assumes there’s going to be something worthy of celebration, and I want to be ready for it,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of avoiding the need to always be right. “Every time you have to be right, there’s a good chance someone else has to be wrong.” He encouraged the audience to let go of this tendency, as it can breed negativity and make others feel like “losers.”
Swindall followed up on his message with a breakout session on Tuesday.
Kamin Samuel, Ph.D.
NAPT ACTS began on Friday with Professional Development Series courses for members and was followed Saturday by an opening keynote address from Kamin Samuel, a trailblazing former naval officer and acclaimed author. She encouraged the attendees to embrace their inner superpowers.
Drawing from her extensive background in positive psychology and personal experiences, which included being the first female African American U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, Samuel emphasized the importance of recognizing and leveraging individual strengths. The definition of a superhero, she said, is a benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers
“You are already superheroes,” she told the audience, foreshadowing Swindall’s greeting the following afternoon. “The fact that you dedicate your life to children and transportation of children and the safety of children is extraordinary.”
Samuel introduced the free VIA Character Strengths assessment, with scores relating to 24 different traits that she has used in her own life and for her upcoming documentary film “Courage to Thrive.” She explained how understanding one’s top strengths, such as her leading traits of honesty, gratitude and love of learning, can help individuals navigate challenges and find fulfillment.
“When we embrace those strengths as our unique superpowers, it’s important for us to realize that they’re already part of our innate nature and created nature,” Samuel said, noting that humans are not pervasively one trait over another but can pull from them as needed. “We’re already good at those things. We enjoy doing them.”
She shared personal anecdotes from her own life—her mother was a principal—and how she used her strengths to cope with her father’s passing, emphasizing the power of “strengths bundling” to regulate emotions and stay effective. She encouraged the audience to consciously apply their strengths throughout the conference and beyond.
The trade show portion of NAPT was held Sunday night and continued Monday morning. The conference concludes on Tuesday.
A Madison County School District bus struck and ultimately killed a student riding her bicycle through an intersection.
The incident occurred Wednesday at approximately 4:20 p.m. during the afternoon commute about 13 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi. First responders immediately began providing medical assistance.
The Madison City Police Department declined to identify the girl, but local news reports said she was Jeanelle Fredericks, 8. She was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but died Wednesday evening.
Other students were on board the school bus at the time of the incident, but no other physical injuries were reported.
A police statement said the incident remained under investigation at this report, with results to be forwarded to the Madison/Rankin County District Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, the Madison County School District issued a statement about being “heartbroken at the loss of a precious student in a tragic accident.”
Counselors were available to students and staff at Madison Avenue Elementary School tarting Thursday and would be available “for days to come,” the district added.
Children left on school bus for hours after falling asleep
8-year-old hospitalized after being hit by school bus
Superintendent to community: Find me 50 bus drivers by Labor Day
The above headlines were but three out of dozens more like them published during school startup. The first month or two (and sometimes three) of a new school year is challenging for even the best run school district. Inevitably something will not go according to plan. Because this industry serves children, any shortcoming or issue must be relatively minor.
Teachers and principals can hide opening day miscalculations or worse within classroom walls, for a while at least. But from day one, transportation failures are heavily publicized by the local and sometimes national media.
A year ago, Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, was raked over hot coals for the failure of its new AI-enabled routing software that resulted in late or absent school buses. Jefferson County administrators eventually closed school for a week to figure out the mess.
This school year, the school district responded as hundreds of other school districts have when faced with similar problems. They cut non-essential transportation to magnet schools and some general education routes. But transportation remains essential to many of the students and parents affected. More backlash erupted. The situation has improved, to the point that Jefferson County is considering bringing back some routes. A new homegrown routing system has helped. But the damage to the community relationship was already done. A group of student riders recently created a rap song and video, “Where My Bus At?”
Beyond last year’s AI routing debacle, the major culprit in the case of Jefferson County and at school districts nationwide is the ongoing shortage of school bus drivers. I have read and heard far too many stories on how staffing levels impact school bus arrival times. Some parents are empathetic, but others are not. They expect the service to be reliable and on time. They entrust their children to the school bus and its operator. They understandably are perplexed if not irate when the bus is late, doesn’t show up, students are dropped off at the wrong stop, are left on board for hours at the conclusion of routes, especially when there is little or no communication from the school district.
A recent survey conducted by Zum indicates that 53 percent of 1,500 parents polled online in June said their children have missed the school bus because they didn’t know when it was arriving. Another 43 percent said their children have been negatively impacted by school transportation issues. Meanwhile, a HopSkipDrive survey of nearly 400 student transporters last spring found that over 28 percent said driver shortages were severely constraining their operations. Nearly 62 percent said operations were “somewhat constrained.”
Improved school bus driver recruitment and retention is trending. COVID-19, while still a thing, is not as severe as it once was considered. People are coming back to work. Then what’s the problem? Is it that student transporters, as they are programmed to do, are simply doing what they must to keep the service rolling using whatever resources they have at their disposal?
The impact on not only service but safety comes into question. That’s where training, training and more training is at play. Especially at school startup, when school buses on the nation’s roadways are in full force alongside all other vehicles, and the media focus is the tight. Student stops are the least safe place for a school bus rider. That’s why they are called the “Danger Zone.”
This month, we continue to explore the fragility of student loading and unloading. Technology is playing an increasing role in helping school bus drivers detect students at stops as well as bringing more visibility to school buses, as we read in this month’s edition. But these solutions are supplements. They don’t and can’t replace training.
The school bus safety record shows what is possible when the right people get behind the wheel and remain there, meeting the second-to-none school bus construction standards. Increased pay is needed but so too are more tools to assist drivers and monitors with increasing student behavior problems on board. Last month’s STN web poll indicates readers are seeing increased ridership this school year, a good thing. But staffing levels must be commensurate and at the top of mind for all school transportation industry professionals not simply those at school districts and bus companies.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the September 2024 issue of School Transportation News.
A former North Carolina school bus driver arrested for allegedly driving students while impaired is charged with committing 60 misdemeanors for the Aug. 29 incident that occurred with students on board at the time.
Lauren Coble, 45, was arrested Wednesday and charged with seven counts of impaired driving in a commercial vehicle and 53 counts of misdemeanor child endangerment for the students that were in her care.
The Creedmore Police Department said the Granville County Public School administration office contacted officers the morning of Aug. 29 after Coble was observed driving erratically during her route.
“Our department fully supports the administration of Granville County Public Schools and their commitment to ensuring the safety of our students and staff,” said police chief Troy Wheless in a statement posted on Facebook. “We will work closely with the District Attorney’s Office to ensure that anyone who puts the safety and security of our students, staff, and members of the public at any of our schools at risk are held accountable for their actions.”
The school district began posting ads for school bus driver applicants on its X social media page (formerly known as Twitter) the same day of the alleged DWI incident.
According to North Carolina General Statutes, each child endangerment charge carries a possible prison sentence of 150 days plus a possible fine, which means Coble could serve over 21 years if convicted of all charges.
If convicted on each driving while impaired charge, she faces as much as another three and a half years in jail and nearly $30,000 in fines or as little as probation and a $1,400 fine, plus the revocation of her commercial driver’s license.
Many of the exhibitors attending the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo for the past several years have decidedly transitioned to featuring green energy for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Much of that reason has to do with unprecedented federal funding for electric vehicles and infrastructure.
But amid the growing EV footprint, a 125-year-old company that drew its name from castor oil and transitioned to become a global leader in producing petroleum-based oil and lubricants stood out at the Las Vegas Convention Center in late May for its sustainability game plan.
A month earlier, Castrol introduced MoreCircular, its new brand for the collection of used lubricant and re-refining it to the same quality as newly lubricant for reintroduction into fleets. Castrol is working with environmental services company SafetyKleen Sustainability Solutions, a subsidiary of Clean Harbors, for a “one-stop-shop solution for lubricant supply and collection,” Castrol said in April.
The goal, the company added, is to provide lower-carbon-footprint lubricants that meet the same high performance and quality standards of newly produced lubricants. “Responsible collection” is available from anywhere in the continental U.S.
Andreas Osbar, Castrol Americas President/CEO
“We’re open for business,” Andreas Osbar, president and CEO of Castrol Americas, told School Transportation News on the ACT Expo exhibit floor on May 21.
Despite the five-year, $5 billion Environmental Protection Agency Clean School Bus Program pushing the adoption of electric school buses, Osbar said he is well aware that at least 80 percent of the school bus industry continues to operate on diesel or at least traditional engine lubricants. And with MoreCircular, he said fleet managers no longer need to sacrifice quality for a reduced carbon footprint.
“The operating expense for a fleet operator comes from how often do I need to change the oil and what does the oil cost me,” Osbar continued. “What we take pride in over the last two decades, especially in the refuse segment or the construction segment, is that we’ve helped our customers to maximize drain intervals and to also effectively get into preventive maintenance. We can tell a customer something is wrong with the equipment, and we’d recommend taking maintenance or [at] minimum changing the oil. Now we can do that even combined with lower carbon footprint.”
Transforming lubricants has been a big part of Osbar’s job, even before being named to his current post in October 2022. Previously, he was vice president of transformation for Castrol Lubricants, and before that a consultant leading the development and implementation of the negotiation strategy of Europe’s largest utility for a large-scale transformation program. He also served in various roles of lubricant development and sales, including at BP, which aquired Castrol in 2000.
STN sat down with Osbar at ACT Expo to learn more about MoreCircular and what it could mean for fleet operators.
Editor’s note — STN is an official media sponsor of ACT Expo. The following transcript has been edited for clarity.
STN: Castrol was the only oil-based company at ACT Expo. Why MoreCircular and what does it do? Osbar: We have a very clear commitment to make the company net-zero carbon and also to help customers as well as countries and regions on their pathway to decarbonization. So, this whole topic of finding ways to reduce hydrocarbon, that’s kind of big. We at Castrol have passed a strategy that’s called Castrol Path 360, which is our commitment to basically halve the carbon intensity of our products until 2030 [and be a net zero brand by 2050, according to BP]. If you then look at the options that you have, most of the carbon footprint that you can reduce is around the materials that you use, in order to produce the lubricant. When I stepped into the role here, we looked at the landscape. What we found was that the re-refining industry, first of all, was in a pretty good place. And also, the collection of waste [in the] industry was pretty well penetrated, there’s a lot more to be done, because only 20 percent of the waste oil is actually getting collected in the U.S. But at least there is 20 percent. In some other markets, in Southeast Asia, China, it is actually less than that. One thing that we then did very early on is enter into conversations with SafetyKleen because the challenge previously obviously was, hey, you have redefined base oil, but the quality of that was deemed inferior. We had to trade off between the lower carbon product and the premium quality. And what we’ve done together with SafetyKleen and through our technology investment is to bring the quality of a product, including re-refined base oil, to the premium quality of that we have as Castrol. And tat’s I think the innovation. We then obviously said for this to become really convenient and meaningful to customers we have to combine both collection as well as the sale of re-refined into one offer. That’s what MoreCircular is all about.
STN: How does this solution fit with emerging predictive, AI-based analytics and actionable maintenance items? Osbar: Our current offering is a combination of product, in-service and used oil analysis. Effectively, we are overlaying algorithms already to used oil sample data. Through two decades of datasets, various equipments, various types of engines, for various operating conditions, we can tell when something’s not right. And we can even make recommendations with regard to maintenance intervals, what type of equipment might be actually better suited for a certain operating condition. What we’re now exploring to come back to your question is to partner with Intangles, which is a basically a telemetry
provider. We have an exclusive relationship with them. And what we’re now doing is to bring our used oil analysis data together with them to have an integrated offering for fleet managers. And that again, in combination with MoreCircular, I think it is going to be a very powerful value proposition that we’d love to share with more and more fleets throughout the U.S.
STN: Can you talk a little bit more about the relationship with SafetyKleen? What is the company doing for Castrol and MoreCircular? How did you how did that relationship come together? Osbar: We looked strategically at the market and said, Look, who are the biggest and most widely spread in the sense that give us most coverage? Because one key thing for us was whatever we do, it needs to be nationwide available in the U.S. Whether you are in Oregon or Washington State, down in Florida, you need to be able to provide the same service and the same product quality wherever you are. And if you apply that lens, there aren’t that many players that are available. SafetyKleen right from the get-go has been a great partner. We’ve been talking about a collection partnership, where we would, if a customer is interested in MoreCircular, say, hey, that waste oil that you have it’s going to be picked up by SafetyKleen, and SafetyKleen guarantees that a minimum of 95 percent of that collection is actually being put back into re-refining and being effectively recycled. And the great thing is because of their operation and the great business that [Clean Harbors Founder, Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer] Alan McKim, [SafetyKleen President] Brian Weber and that team have built, they can offer the same service level regardless where you are in the states. On the re-refining space, we’ve done quite a lot of work together on the technology front to get a formulation based on their base oil that is high quality but it does behave a little bit different than virgin base oil. But to get that to the same quality level and to the same quality standard than the usual Castrol product, right. And on those two things, we have collaborated. And we’re both excited about the prospect of this because we believe it can potentially be a transformative moment for the lubricants industry in the U.S.
STN: Despite the ramp up to EV, there’s going to be diesel, gasoline or propane operating in school buses for some time. Osbar: As long as there’s an internal combustion engine, whether it’s in a hybrid application, or regardless of the fuel type, we feel pretty confident that we can offer the right product range with MoreCircular that serves the respective fleets. Obviously in electric vehicles, there’s no motor oil. We also have offerings, but that goes more into our EV fluids, right, because in an electric vehicle you still have lubrication points. They’re fundamentally different. So, we feel pretty good about that. And we know that the future powertrain situation for the commercial vehicle and heavy-duty space including school buses, that’s going to be diverse. I think that’s the best way to describe it. A lot of it will depend on availability and affordability of different commodities. Hydrogen might play a role, depending on the availability and the affordability of a fuel cell. You could also find that hydrogen might be used in an internal combustion engine, that might happen, right. We’ve been working with a few companies in Europe to trial that also. And then you also need a lubricant for that. So, I think we’re in a good place. They’re agnostic of that. I think the important piece is we have a solution available for customers that can save between 20 to 40 percent of Scope 3 CO2 emissions, and we feel that is a significant contribution, if somebody is serious about decarbonization.
STN: Tell us more about EV lubricants. Osbar: They are different because you have got to think, first of all, in the electric engine itself, there’s obviously nothing. There is no piston, there isn’t anything to be lubricated. But then there is a bearing that you need in an electric motor that needs grease. That’s something that we’re looking into. And then there is still a transmission, right, and that transmission does need to be lubricated. Now, with electrical power, you basically need dielectric (insulating) products that do not interfere with the electricity that is basically around it, right. And that’s why we’ve been investing in it for the last 10 years. And we have a market leading position actually on the fluids side. That’s something that we’re excited about that we continue to work with OEMs. And we also believe that there’s a third lubrication point that’s upcoming, which is around thermal management, which is basically advanced cooling solutions of batteries. That’s also something that we’re actively looking into.
STN: Might EV fluids be available for recapture by MoreCircular? Osbar: Some of them are filled for life by definition, others will have service intervals. Wherever there are service intervals, our intent is to try to get them into a circular mode. Now, the composition of these fluids is different. And that’s overall going to be the challenge. As the engine technology becomes more advanced, the requirements and lubricants change. Usually, there’s a fuel efficiency and viscosity reduction, which means that the lubricants have to be thinner to reduce friction and make the engine more efficient. And for that you need different and higher quality base stocks and producing them re-refined. That’s a challenge. But again, that’s something that we’re actively looking into together with our partner SafetyKleen to ensure that we stay ahead of the sort of technical frontier.
STN: And ultimately a product like MoreCircular is better than disposing fluids. Osbar: The worst thing for everybody including the environment, is some stuff getting disposed into the environment. That’s the worst. The second worst thing is if it’s getting burned because that produces hydrocarbons. The best thing is getting recycled. And again, I think we’re giving fleet operators and customers choice because you can have a virgin product that’s same as it always been for the last 20 to 30 years, or you can get into a lower carbon footprint product, which is ours that is the same quality. And that’s just a greater choice. And I think that’s a good thing.
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