Havre schools look at buying new buses

Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees were given information Tuesday afternoon about new school buses the district is looking to buy to replace two old ones.

The trustees will vote on whether to buy the two new school buses, which may cost around $110,000, at its next board meeting Feb. 14.

Director of Operations Jim Donovan said the idea is to buy two new Blue Bird buses.

The major criteria for which buses will be replaced is high mileage, Donovan said, adding that the goal is to replace a bus that already has about 200,000 miles and another with about 300,000 miles.

The buses transport about 1,200 students five days a week and the district hasn't replaced a bus since 2014, he said.

District employees maintain the buses in the district's bus garage next to Havre Middle School on 11th Street. Donovan said the facility has a repair program which tracks costs and repairs per bus and calculates how much upkeep each bus requires per mile. He told trustees that no buses are exactly alike, and some require more upkeep than others.

The district has 25 total buses - 18 route buses, four spare buses and three coach buses, Donovan said.

The coach buses, Donovan said after the meeting, are replaced about every 30 years and get up to millions of miles put on them. The coach buses are the primary buses used for activities, but, he added, it's not uncommon, depending on the event, to use route buses on road trips once the coach buses have run out of room.

When it comes to activities, Donovan said, not many districts, if any, in Montana probably travel as many miles as Havre buses. This, he said, is largely because of Havre's geographical position in the state.