Only in the U.S.: The reason why school buses are painted yellow in the United States explained

Though many might not realize it, generations of American school children have Dr. Frank Cyr to thank for getting them to and from school safely and on time.

In 1937, Cyr, an educator and author was shocked by the results of a ten-state study which looked into how children made their way to school. It found that some were making the journey in trucks, others using standard bus routes used by those heading to work and some by horse-drawn wagons.

Getting kids to school safely, on a bright yellow bus

Until then in the United States there were no national safety standards for school transportation. School bus safety was in the hands of local authorities but by 1939 it was clear that universal standards needed to be applied nationwide.

One of the priorities was to ensure that school buses were easy to be seen - this meant painting them in high-visibility colors, and nobody could miss a bright yellow bus - it’s easy to see even in fog and rain.

Another feature in Cyr’s guidelines was to ensure that the school buses were easy to repair even in small-town garages, cheap enough and big enough to carry dozens of students.

Supercoach gamechanger

In 1948, California-based company Crown Coach Corporation, launched the Supercoach which could carry 79 passengers - almost double the capacity of earlier buses made by other manufacturers such as Blue Bird Carpenter and Gillig.

The Supercoach had an all-steel frame with shatterproof glass. Best of all it came with a 20-year anti-corrosion warranty and many buses even outlasted that guarantee.

Fast forward to today, US school buses are still bright yellow but most of the fleet no longer run on diesel, gasoline or propane. Electric buses now run in 49 states and four US territories. There are around 5,500 electric buses (ESBs) currently operational ferrying kids to and from schools nationwide plus another 14,000 “committed” to school districts or fleet operators.

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