School buses in the smaller Michigan districts are failing inspections as problems continue to expand with aging vehicles. The Madison County Central Schools have 18 buses with 300,000 miles logged since 1993, and the district hasn’t replaced any in the past decade due to lack of funding. Some of their buses have holes in the side panels, showing the insulation underneath.
The Michigan State Police issued results from their yearly inspections, which showed the problems facing the rural districts, according to a Detroit News report.
The inspections grade the buses as “pass,” “yellow,” which indicates the vehicle has problems that need to be fixed within 60 days, and “red,” which indicates the vehicle must be taken off the road immediately and can’t be returned until the problem is fixed.
In Mason County Central, 13 out of the 18 buses failed inspection. Nine of 12 failed in Ubly Community Schools and all nine buses failed in Vestaburg Community Schools. State-wide, the failure rate climbed from 7.6% in 2011-12 to 10.2% in 2013-14. A state police official points out failed inspections rise and fall as new buses are added.
