A bad bulb in the dome light, an untaped tear in the seat and an unmarked emergency exit, are a few of the minor infractions which will earn a school bus a red tag during an inspection, rendering it out-of-service until the infraction is corrected.
In addition to the seemingly minor requirements, the state-required bus inspection also includes the brakes, tires, air leaks and other major areas of vehicle maintenance, which ensure the bus is working properly and safely.
Certified Inspector George Trujillo has inspected bus fleets for Española, Mesa Vista and Jemez Mountain school districts — all of which had buses that were red tagged.
Española School District Transportation Director Sennie Quintana said the bus fleet she oversees has 51 buses (15 of which are operated by contractors) and seven spare buses. Quintana, who’s been transportation direction since 1989, said she’s only had a handful of inspections during which no buses were red-tagged.
“We’ve had several inspections that were good, but we’ve never had anything 100 percent,” Quintana said.
During Quintana’s early years as transportation director, the bus inspector would issue restrictions as well as red tags. This meant a school district could use the bus under restricted terms for a short time period, such as a week, during which time the bus would be brought up to compliance and reinspected.
“Now, everything is out-of-service. If the seats have a tear and no tape, that can be out-of-service,” Quintana said.
Española’s bus inspections were Oct. 25-28. Three buses were red-tagged for a leaking brake chamber, worn out brake pads and an air leak on tires. Quintana said all the buses were repaired, brought up to compliance and reinspected. They were back in service by Oct. 29. Since Española has seven spare buses, no bus routes were affected during this time.
Quintana said Española’s school buses will be inspected again during the spring.
While inspecting the 13 Mesa Vista Consolidated Schools buses, at least five school were red-tagged, Trujillo said. Three were repaired, re-inspected and are now back in service, but two buses are still out-of-service.
Mesa Vista Transportation Coordinator Frank Gallegos said the repairs required on the buses were brakes and tires.
“When he (Trujillo) is doing the inspection, he gives us a chance to fix on-site,” Gallegos said.
Three of Mesa Vista’s buses were re-inspected and put back in service within the week.
Trujillo said in his 13 years of doing bus inspections, many of the infractions he’s seen are minor, such as light bulbs, but some are major.
“The reason they have us (inspectors), is because some of the things we catch are critical items: brakes, suspension, tires; things that cause the bus to not be safe for transportation and there’s a good chance people can get killed,” Trujillo said. “If there weren’t bus inspections, I don’t think all school districts would do the work needed to maintain their buses.”
“We’re tasked with making sure the buses meet the requirements so the children are safe,” Trujillo said.
He did not perform the inspection for the Chama Valley School District, but the school buses were inspected Sept. 24-25, Transportation Coordinator Melvin Montaño said. Chama Valley has a fleet of 14 buses and all passed inspections by Dirk Tafoya with no violations, Montaño said.
“When I first started, the fleet was pretty old and we would get some service violations. We’re pretty proud of our fleet,” Montaño said.
All school districts will go through bus inspections this spring. McCurdy Charter School will have two buses by that time, Secretary Alison Watt said. Each will require inspection.