No seatbelts on new buses

School district gets cash for 7 new school buses; New buses to replace older ones in district's fleet

The Central Okanagan school district's bus Áeet is getting seven new buses, funded by the province. The provincial government is providing millions of dollars' worth of upgrades to school districts across the province. The Central Okanagan is receiving more than $1.5 million to pay for Phase 2 of washroom upgrades at Mount Boucherie Secondary and for the seven new buses. The cost of six of the buses is $138,609 each, and one of the buses is more expensive, at $152,354, because it is wheelchair-accessible. “We’ve gotten approval to go ahead and proceed with ordering them,” said Eileen Sadlowski, secretary-treasurer for the district. “I would assume they’ll be ready for implementation in the fall.” The district now has about 85 school buses. The seven new buses will be replacing older ones. While there has been a lot of talk across the country about whether or not school buses should be retroÀtted with seatbelts, there are no plans to add seatbelts to local school buses. “There's been a federal task force, I believe, that’s been struck and they're going to investigate the whole issue of safety on buses,” said Sadlowski. “I think that we would just really like to see what the task force says.” One of the main challenges is cost, said Sadlowski: “Replacing seats on the buses is millions of dollars.” If seatbelts were to be mandated on school buses, it would likely come from the province, said Sadlowski. However, it is not likely a change the district will be proposing. “We’re not trying to be aggressive in any way,” said Sadlowski. “We’re just waiting to see what the recommendations might be.”