Burns Truck and Bus
2517 Cherry Rd. Rock Hill, SC 29732Sales: (866) 891-4209
News
Burns Truck and Bus Selected as GulfTran Distributor!
Burns Truck and Bus Sales has been selected as a regional distributor for a new bus manufacturing company, GulfTran. Although new to building buses, GulfTran is a division of Gulf Stream Coach Inc, who is known for their dependable, high quality RV's.a GulfTran expects to market between 750 and 1,000 12- to 25-seat commercial shuttle buses annually beginning in November.
It's all part of a new shirt on the part of the closely held, Nappanee, Ind.-based company outside of the traditional recreational vehicle business.
In fact, the commercial shuttle bus arena is the second market outside the RV industry that Gulf Stream has ventured in to in recent months. The company also is part of a consortium formed by Electric Motors Corp. (EMC) to build hybrid pickup trucks. When EMC gets going, Gulf Stream will add EMC's electric engine and drive train to Ford F-150 pickup trucks - perhaps as soon as the third quarter of 2010.
"We are loading the (shuttle bus) line now," said Claude Donati, vice president of the new company who also is vice president of Gulf Stream's motorized division. "
"We'll have two lines running under the same roof as the (Gulf Stream) motorhomes so we can keep our overhead low," Donati said. " There will be a lot of shared resources."
Thirty to 60 employees - some of whom already are on-board - will focus on building GulfTran shuttle buses.
The coaches can be customized into as many as 50 floorplans, depending on the seating configuration, he said.
"Our minimum rate of production will be achieved in January," Donati said.
GulfTran's commercial shuttle buses will be built on Ford E-350 and E-450 chassis, Donati said, and are expected to be used in airports, schools, casinos and medical applications, among others.
Although initially the EMC project will not have a recreation vehicle application, Donati said that ''second-generation" EMC-equipped cutaway chassis eventually could be used to build Class C motorhomes.
Because GulfTran will be sharing facilities and resources with Gulf Stream, their combined buying power will give huge benefits to bus buyers. In the past, buyers have had to make a choice: either pay a premium to get a quality constructed bus, or purchase a low quality bargain basement bus. Now, bus purchasers can finally buy a quality built bus that will compete with entry level buses from other manufacturersMFSAB Buses
You may wonder why your church should purchase a bus, and get rid of the old 8, 12 or 15 passenger van. Hands down, a bus is a safer alternative. Most are built with crash avoidance in mind, but in the event that a crash were to occur, they are built to better protect the occupants. They are built to high safety standard, but as with any product, some are more safe than others. As an example, a bus with dual rear wheels is far more stable than a bus with single rear wheels, and less likely to loose control. While a dual rear wheel MFSAB has no advantage over a standard church bus as far as maintaining control, the MFSAB has much greater interior occupant protection - so if a crash happens, there is less of a chance of injury. Just as the school systems had to switch to certified buses to satisfy insurance requirements, many church organizations now find that they are paying higher insurance premiums to drive an unsafe van...if they can even get insurance on one.
MFSAB - What is it?
MFSAB stands for Multi-Function School Activity bus, and is a term used by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), other government agencies, as well as through-out the bus industry, and is a designation generally given to buses which meet stringent government safety standards, have been through the crash testing procedures, have specific equipment included in their construction, and are certified to carry children to and from school and school related activities. They are also generally regarded as the safest mass transportation option, and are preferred over non-conforming passenger vans, which are regarded as having a higher causality rate in the event of a loss of control or crash with another vehicle. Laws vary from state to state, as well as insurance restrictions concerning non-conforming vans.
The information below applies on a national level, and applies to schools only. Additionally, many states have laws and restrictions more severe with regards to schools, and includes child daycares and church organizations. Please check your laws on a local level. FACT SHEET As a result of the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the Department of Transportation, issued 34 Federal motor vehicle safety standards which apply to school buses. With respect to school buses, Congress has directed NHTSA to require school bus manufacturers to meet more safety standards than apply to passenger vans and other buses. The following are facts related to non-conforming vans (vehicles designed by the manufacturer to transport more than ten persons including the driver that do not meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards [FMVSSs]:
While school districts may see a cost savings in purchasing and using non-conforming vans for school-related activities, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the National Association for Pupil Transporation Services (NAPT) and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) believe that, while comparably-sized school buses may be more expensive than conventional buses, the increased level of safety justifies a higher cost. Insurance Issues With Vans There is good news and bad news when it comes to church transportation. The bad news is that the 15-passenger van, long used to haul children to youth retreats and shuttle seniors to Sunday lunch, is about to go the way of the nun’s habit.
Since 1990, more than 420 people have been killed, and thousands more seriously injured, in rollovers and collisions in the top-heavy, thin-sided vehicles. GuideOne Insurance, one of the nation’s largest insurers of churches, reviewed just five accidents between 1999 and 2001 involving 15-passenger vans belonging to policyholders. Those accidents claimed the lives of 11 people, seriously injured more than 20 and resulted in $4.3 million in claims.
"Passenger vans were built from cargo vans", said Richard Anderson with Burns Bus Sales in Rock Hill SC. "The manufacturers took cargo vans, added some seats to them, and churches bought them, not knowing the dangers involved. It's amazing that it has taken so long for the the government to tighten down the use of vans, and that the insurance industry has taken so long to say enough is enough." Insurance companies are only part of the challenge. Federal and state law also is turning up the heat. "Several years ago, the federal law outlawed 15 passenger vans for use in transporting children to and from school activities or church activities," said Jim Elliott, national sales manager for Collins Industries, a bus manufacturer in Hutchinson, Kan. Elliott was referring to the Motor Vehicle Safety Amendments Act of 1974, which prohibits dealers from selling new, 10 or more passenger vans to any public or private daycare or school unless the vehicle meets federal school bus safety standards. The law, which carries a $1,000 fine for each barred sale, does not apply to used passenger vans, nor does it preclude schools from using them. According to the Christian Law Association, many states have passed laws prohibiting or restricting their use. Other states allow them to be used as a school bus under certain conditions. CLA recommends ministries research the law in their state. Though as many as 600,000 15-passenger vans are in use, most industry experts anticipate the vans will be history within a few years.
"Trading In, Trading Up What’s leadership to do if the church van becomes too expensive to insure or is even prohibited from use? Many congregations are turning to the mini-bus, a 15-26 passenger conveyance designed for comfort, safety and-relatively speaking-good looks. Models seating 14 passengers and a driver range from about $40,000 to $50,000, depending upon options and whether the engine is gas or diesel. A 26-seat mini-bus ranges from $50,000 to about $56,000. A Type A school bus seating 22 passengers ranges from about $35,000 to $54,000, according to Elliott. Used prices range from about $12,000 to $30,000, with lower-mileage vehicles coming in at the top of the range. The majority of the used buses five years old or newer come from the transit market. Churches tend to keep their vehicles much longer. So how are churches spending their money for vehicles? "They buy the mini-bus. They buy the van chassis, but it has more of an airport-shuttle shell," Anderson said. "Some people call them ‘people movers,’ but we just call them mini-buses. We outfit them as much as we can to make them comfortable and to give them some tour-bus quality features." Elliott said many churches are looking to buy the Type A school bus because it offers safety (a 1996 National Safety Council study determined school buses to be the safest form of transportation available) and value. "We've come up with some very attractive pricing on these buses," Elliott said. "We sell them anywhere from the mid-$30,000s on the 14-passenger variety, which is not much more than the vans." He describes them as very safe and able to last up to 15 years. Elliot said the buses often come with attractive leasing options-a fact stemming in part from the nature of the vehicles and their use.
"One, they are safe. Two, churches maintain them magnificently," he said. Third, church users "don't drive them that many miles compared to a school bus," which means the buses come off lease with relatively few miles." "There's a ready market for that used bus with five years and 20,000 miles," Elliot said. "I get 20 calls a week from people looking for that kind of used vehicle they can put back into service to replace a van." "Another issue confronting churches is once leadership decides to invest in a bus, what is it going to do with the old van, which when new may have cost up to $25,000.
Bus dealers, who stand to benefit from the changeover, have no use for the vehicles and are encouraging churches to remove the seats and sell them as cargo vans. A good sales suggestion is posting notices at home improvement and contractor outlets, where they may find a reasonable buyer’s market. Those types of people understand what is going on and they’re picking up some great deals.They’re still paying a good price for a nice church van.
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"It's amazing that it has taken so long for the the government to tighten down the use of vans, and that the insurance industry has taken so long to say enough is enough"