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It’s an impressive sight. On the east side of Interstate 805, between Clairemont Mesa Boulevard
and Balboa Avenue: 18 acres, nearly completely covered with bright yellow school buses.
It’s the heart of a bus system that serves 419 routes, 22,000 students every day, using 502 buses and 600 employees. Another 93 routes are run by a contractor, First Student.
Walk around the yard with director Alex Robinson and you’ll see staff on hand from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, shops buzzing with activities, staff mapping routes and monitoring traffic, drivers getting the latest information. It’s the largest school bus facility in the nation.
But it all comes down to that individual passenger, the student. Robinson’s mantra:
“The school bus is an extension of the classroom,” she says.
In many ways, our bus system is even more of an extension of the classroom than a traditional school bus system. While the yellow coaches are a familiar sight around the nation, San Diego’s -- with a few exceptions -- are only used by special education students and those whose parents have exercised a school-choice option. All drivers are trained on the needs of special education students.
Robinson is proud of her staff and her drivers, which she says don’t fit the average across America.
“Between 75 to 80 percent have college degrees; about 30 percent have graduate degrees,” she said. "They’re here as second careers, because they like getting out, working with kids.”
Drivers are not only trained on emergency procedures for their students and every-day routine, they’re part of the region’s emergency response system. Several district buses were on call during the October, 2007 wildfires.
Walk through the doors at Transportation headquarters and you’ll see real pride… walls lined with trophies from bus roadeos over the years. San Diego’s legacy continues. Most recently, drivers placed fourth and tenth in the National Safety Roadeo Competition.
Today, all buses are as environmentally friendly as possible. For nearly a decade, the district has been committed to having as “green” a group of yellow buses.
The district’s fleet was one of the first in the nation to use low-sulfur diesel fuel. Particulate traps -- filters -- started being installed on buses back in 1999; cleaner, ultra low-sulfur fuel began to fill their tanks about the same time.
The 1999 pilot program was watched nationally. Since then, all district buses have been fitted with particulate traps, with some installations funded through grants. The engines continue to dine on ultra-low-sulfur fuel, and occasionally biodiesel produced by the students at San Diego High School.
New buses continue to be added to the fleet, with 25 added in 2007. The oldest model is a 1997. The newest have lap and shoulder belts, now required on all newly-purchased motorcoaches.