School bus with white top

[platoonDaddy]

Since the start of school year I have seen what appears to be new school buses with white tops in Md & Northern Va.

Anyone know why and have you noticed any in your area?


Merry Christmas to you and your love ones.


Edit: corrected typo's

[BobM]

I've seen that and I assumed it was to keep the heat down on the inside in warmer months?

[chadbag]

I have seen that here in Utah as well. I assume it is to reflect sun energy to lower inside temps in the summer.

[jklaughrey]

It is for cooling purposes. Coming from SoCal, these have been in use for since the late 70's.

[The_War_Wagon]

It is for cooling purposes. Coming from SoCal, these have been in use for since the late 70's.

Seen 'em in NC since the mid-'90's.

[CarlosDJackal]

Since the start of school year I have seen what appears to be new school buses with white tops in Md & Northern Va.

Anyone know why and have you noticed any in your area?...

The Baltimore County School buses have been this way for years (I moved to Central VA more than 10-years ago).

[platoonDaddy]

The Baltimore County School buses have been this way for years (I moved to Central VA more than 10-years ago).


WOW, we here in AA & PG county are just receiving the buses.





It is for cooling purposes. Coming from SoCal, these have been in use for since the late 70's.


dang, never thought of that, makes sense.

[kartoffel]

Yeah they're becoming more common further north. As a transplanted Yankee, they still don't look right to me. School buses are supposed to be yellow on the outside and green on the inside. No air conditioners or fancy arm rests. If you don't want to get stuck with the hump seat, get on early :p

[jklaughrey]

Well not to be stereotyping the PacNW but some people refer to school buses as Twinkies. "Yellow on the outside, white in the middle", this of course references our cultural diversity...lack thereof! Coming from SoCal I would have to say a school bus of any kind sure beats walking through rival gang territory any day of the week. Hell even the short bus is a welcome relief.

[ST911]

Tinted windows are also becoming a trend in many districts, for student comfort as well as privacy.

[Rmplstlskn]

I can attest that a white roof really does cut down on the heat inside a vehicle... That is one of my favorite things about my Toyota FJ Cruiser... A cooler interior in the summer...

Rmpl

[DragonDoc]

Now what kind of melancholy mood were you in that this became an issue? Bus roof tops have been white for decades in TX and FL.

[platoonDaddy]

My friend with a sense of humor emailed me the following from Bismark, ND

In ND a white top bus would be a disadvantage for student survival because they would be difficult to spot from the air by rescue searchers looking for buses stranded and drifted in during blizzards.

These buses need to be found within 48 hours to avoid students having extra make-up school days in the summer which can interfere with their work on the farm during calving time and barley harvest.

A disruption of the barley harvest causes the price of beer to go up, which in-turn result in huge inflation during the eight long winter months.

Therefore, in ND they paint the entire bus orange with a 10 ft flag pole on top.

[Terracoma]

For those of you east of the Mississippi, CSX Transportation has been transitioning to white paint on the roofs of their locomotives for the same reason.