Putnam Schools Updating Bus Fleet; New Technology Added Annually

Putnam County Schools beginning the process to purchase four new buses.

Transportation Supervisor Ron Chaffin said the system tries to purchase new school buses once a year in an attempt to keep its fleet updated. The average lifespan of a bus is 15 years.

“They’re all the time, every year, updating on different things,” Chaffin said. “More technology, more camera systems, more ways for us being able to transport safely.”

Chaffin said that Putnam County trades in their buses often as the older models begin to get more miles on them. Chaffin said that the school system makes sure that their entire fleet is safe to transport students.

“Every 90 days we go through an inspection and make sure they’re up to standards and meet our protocols that we have for maintenance and for safety,” Chaffin said. “We keep them on a maintenance schedule so that we can get a full 15-year lifespan out of them.”

Chaffin said that the buses Putnam is looking to purchase this year would hold up to 84 passengers, while a typical bus holds 78. Chaffin said new buses will be intended for school-sponsored trips such as out of town and will contain luggage compartments.

“We have them in our fleet now but we got some of them are starting to get older and we just need to replace them,” Chaffin said. “Because we’ve got others that are starting to age, so that was the reason why.”