Nanaimo school district will be purchasing a new school bus with a price tag of $138,991 in the near future, thanks to provincial government funding.
At its regular meeting last week, the school board approved spending a maximum of $138,991 on an 80-passenger school bus, which will replace the oldest bus in the school district’s active fleet – part of the Ministry of Education’s fleet renewal program.
Buses are replaced when meeting a certain age or mileage limit, in the case of 80-seat buses 400,000 kilometres or 15 years.
School district communications director Donna Reimer said the new bus will replace a 1999 Thomas Built bus with 372,000 kilometres. The ministry provides funding for new buses that replace older buses but not new, non-replacement buses.
“The government funds the bus for us … so we go through the process of buying the bus and the government transfers the money to us to pay the cost,” Reimer said.
The oldest bus in the reserve fleet will be put up for auction. Along with the nine reserve buses, the school district has 20 buses for its regular runs.
The province fleet renewal program is providing $11 million for 96 new buses.
