Cells keep buses connected;St. John roamed to Nextel, paid price

[Rich]

Wednesday June 5 12:00am
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

A plan in St. John the Baptist Parish to boost school bus safety by allowing drivers to use cellular phone service donated by Cingular Wireless has ended up costing the district more than $ 800 a month since February.

That's because district officials switched companies after deciding that the cellular service being promoted since September on the sides of its 61 buses doesn't fit their needs.

Two small decals, placed left of the door and under the driver's side window, are to show that drivers have Cingular cell phones in case of emergencies. But the St. John school district no longer uses Cingular -- it uses Nextel.

School officials say they haven't had time to remove the decals, which were applied in the fall.

"We run these buses 24-7. We've got more important things to do like maintenance," said Johnny Owen, district transportation director. "This is something we could do during the summertime."

Although state policy forbids advertising on public school buses, it makes an exception for cell phone decals. St. John is the only New Orleans area parish to use decals and phones on its buses.

From September to January, the district used Cingular service under an agreement that gave it free air time in exchange for placing decals on its fleet of buses.

The Cingular plan, however, restricted calls to five preset numbers, Owen said. The Nextel plan works like citizens band radios, allowing drivers to communicate from bus to bus or driver to principal, but without the cost of building a tower.

The school district has proposed a similar deal to Nextel, which is still considering the arrangement, said Felix Boughton, the district's executive director for business and finance.

Until a decision is made, St. John will pay $ 863.15 per month from the transportation budget for phone service for all its bus drivers, purchasing agent Peter Montz said.

Despite the cost, district officials decided to switch the bus drivers to Nextel to centralize communication because principals and administrators were already using Nextel phones, Superintendent Mike Coburn said.

School officials say they can't put a price on increasing safety for the district's 6,300 students.

"I'm not worried about the cost. I'm worried about the safety of the kids," Coburn said.

[TNDan21]

I've noticed that Sullivan County public buses in my hometown (Kingsport, TN) have a little logo on the buses. I believe they say "Safety Calls provided by Verizon Wireless" with the Verizon Wireless logo printed on it.

[MTS2000]

<< Wednesday June 5 12:00am
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

A plan in St. John the Baptist Parish to boost school bus safety by allowing drivers to use cellular phone service donated by Cingular Wireless has ended up costing the district more than $ 800 a month since February.

That's because district officials switched companies after deciding that the cellular service being promoted since September on the sides of its 61 buses doesn't fit their needs.

Two small decals, placed left of the door and under the driver's side window, are to show that drivers have Cingular cell phones in case of emergencies. But the St. John school district no longer uses Cingular -- it uses Nextel.

School officials say they haven't had time to remove the decals, which were applied in the fall.

"We run these buses 24-7. We've got more important things to do like maintenance," said Johnny Owen, district transportation director. "This is something we could do during the summertime."

Although state policy forbids advertising on public school buses, it makes an exception for cell phone decals. St. John is the only New Orleans area parish to use decals and phones on its buses.

From September to January, the district used Cingular service under an agreement that gave it free air time in exchange for placing decals on its fleet of buses.

The Cingular plan, however, restricted calls to five preset numbers, Owen said. The Nextel plan works like citizens band radios, allowing drivers to communicate from bus to bus or driver to principal, but without the cost of building a tower.

The school district has proposed a similar deal to Nextel, which is still considering the arrangement, said Felix Boughton, the district's executive director for business and finance.

Until a decision is made, St. John will pay $ 863.15 per month from the transportation budget for phone service for all its bus drivers, purchasing agent Peter Montz said.

Despite the cost, district officials decided to switch the bus drivers to Nextel to centralize communication because principals and administrators were already using Nextel phones, Superintendent Mike Coburn said.

School officials say they can't put a price on increasing safety for the district's 6,300 students.

"I'm not worried about the cost. I'm worried about the safety of the kids," Coburn said. >>



Wow! you mean they can't get a talkgroup on the highly acclaimed New Orleans 800MHz GE/Ma-Com/Comnet/Ericsson/Tyco/whoever they are this week/ trunking system? LOL

[Jack]

Never noticed that in my area

Jack