Three New Buses Are Headed to Granby

The Granby public school’s fleet of buses will soon gain three new buses to service the students in the school system. 

A total of three bids came in from various bus companies, and the board decided to go with the Blue Bird Corporation for two 77-passenger buses and for a smaller, wheel chair accessible bus, a Type II Starcraft bus. 

The buses from the Blue Bird buses Corporation will cost $75,458 each.

“The Blue Bird [buses] were $6,000 less than the Dattco buses, per bus,” said Board member Matt Wutka.

The Type II Starcraft bus will cost $56,250. Again, the Dattco bid came in slightly higher, at a total of $64,241. Wutka said this particular bus is a fairly new version to the state. 

The recommendation for the bus purchases stemmed from the finance/personnel/facilities subcommittee of the Board of Education. 

Wutka said purchasing the two Blue Bird buses was brought to attention of M&J Bus Company, who maintains the town’s buses. 

“They had favorable experiences with Blue Bird,” Wutka said. “We have some Blue Bird buses right now.”

Business Manager Harry Traver said the positive record with Blue Bird accounted for recent experience that M&J had. 

Currently, the district has a total of 25 buses in the fleet, with the average life span of about 10 years. Traver confirmed that roughly two to three buses are replaced each year as the buses grow in age. 

Traver said the buses will likely come in after the next school year has started, when the Department of Motor Vehicle inspections are complete on the vehicles. 

“We probably won't have the buses in stock until late September,” he said.