National Bus Sales, one of the largest new and used bus sales organizations in the United States, has announced that Randy McLerran, former Oklahoma Director of School Transportation, has joined their company as a School Transportation Specialist and Sales Representative. He was selected as National School Transportation Administrator of the Year 2001 and has received two national awards for his work in the safe transportation of students with special needs. Randy has served on the board of directors for NAPT and NASDPTS and is a former treasurer of NASDPTS. Randy, a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at school transportation conferences said “ I have enjoyed my 37 years in public education and serving as State Director of School Transportation for the State of Oklahoma for the last 20 years. However, I am excited to join National Bus Sales which is known for providing safe and quality school buses to school districts.”
National Bus Sales, Inc. has been in the bus business for over twenty years with its main headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. National Bus Sales has a large selection of new and used school buses, new and used shuttle buses, special needs buses, and motorcoaches.
McLerran’s background in public education and certification as superintendent of schools and his extensive knowledge of rural and urban school operations will enable him to assist schools in finding solutions to their transportation needs in a cost efficient manner.
Background:
High School- Dill City, OK
B.A.- Southwest Oklahoma State University
M.Ed.-East Central State University
Post Grad-Oklahoma State University
Family-Wife Pam
On his Ipod-Chris Wall, Leon Russell, Marshall Tucker Band and blues
Hobbies-Yard work and learning to play golf
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
'Top 10' Ways to Cut Down on Cold Weather Fuel Costs
These last few weeks, Jack Frost has taken a bite out of some of us while Mother Nature has shined warmly on others. It’s that time of the year again when weather conditions can change quickly without notice, for the best or the worst. But one thing you can count on this winter is that harsh operating conditions will happen fast, so you must be prepared.
Winter operations mean more fuel consumption, so here are 10 recommendations to maximize your fuel investment during cold weather. With over 6,000 clients using our Fuel Management solutions we have discovered these are the best ways to cut wasted fuel. Here is the list of Jack Lee’s Top Ten ways to cut down on cold weather fuel costs:
1. Train and educate your drivers: Your drivers can control fuel consumption each time they fire up their engines. Proper training can improve fuel efficiency, economy and emissions. Hard acceleration, speeding and idling are the biggest causes of fuel waste. Initiate a training course for drivers and reward participation.
2. Use Fuel Management Online Software: FMO is a software suite from 4Refuel that puts you in touch with all the fuel consumption data you will need to cut your fuel expenses, guaranteed. Information is available to your desk top including refueling location, the unit fueled and where fill ups were done. Tracking miles traveled, average speed and engine efficiency is critical to cutting fuel costs. This information will help your drivers and managers optimize routes with better planning. FMO sets up easily to import and export your data and it is incredibly user friendly.
3. Decrease Idling: Be aware of the time engines idle. Excessive idling ads to your fuel costs by as much as 50% and can shorten the life of engine oil by 75%, adding even more costs. Initiate a campaign to reduce idling time and reward participants. Allowing an engine to idle more than 3 minutes causes expensive damage which harms efficiency, shortens engine life and increases maintenance costs. It all adds up.
4. Start off slower and stop speeding: Jackrabbit starts waste fuel and save less than 3 minutes per hour driving, but can result in using 40% more fuel and increase toxic emissions by 400%! What’s the rush? Speeding is dangerous; it wastes fuel and creates higher levels of toxic emissions. Speeds over 100 km/hour drastically impact fuel efficiencies. Trucks traveling at 120 km/hour use 50% more fuel and they also emit 100% more carbon monoxide, 50% more hydrocarbons and 31% more nitrogen oxides.
5. Lose Weight: Excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. By removing as little as 100 pounds you can significantly improve your gas mileage. Check each vehicle and pitch out that unnecessary weight!
6. Upload your odometer readings to maximize fuel efficiency: FMO gives you the capability to compare mileage records with fuel consumption at the click of a mouse. When you have all this information, fleet management is simple, and you can cut fuel costs fast when you see a unit that is operating outside of predetermined thresholds.
7. Cut the time you spend calculating IFTA reporting: If you cross provincial, state or national borders you know how much time it takes to file International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) and time is part of calculating your true cost of fuel. FMO will cut your time spent gathering tax information for fleets that cross the U.S. - Canadian border. Refueling data can be batched by region to each specific refueling station so you know to which jurisdiction the fuel taxes are owed.
8. Upgrade your Fleet: Whenever possible, invest in modern, fuel-efficient vehicles. Modern diesel engines are far more fuel-efficient and perform better with modern diesel fuels such as ultra low sulfur diesel and bio-diesel. Measure each piece of equipment for fuel efficiency and get rid of the under performing ones.
9. Service your fleet regularly: This includes having a stringent, well-managed preventive maintenance policy. Regular tire pressure checks can help you cut fuel too. A well maintained vehicle performs better, improves fuel efficiency, reduces toxic emissions and, in the long run, will cost less to maintain. Gather monthly maintenance reports and match them to your fleet numbers and you will stay on top of each unit as well as expenses.
10. Import third-party refueling data: You can measure and manage your fleet better when you have all the information. If your fleet is on the move chances are you refuel from a number of sources whether it is on-site, via your own fuel storage tanks or at card locks. FMO pulls each source together in one report, by unit, so you can review, manage and eliminate wasted fuel.
Your winter fuel consumption will drop and so will your costs even if you employ only half of the suggestions above. That should give you some extra cash to use on heating your office and staying warm, rather than spewing those dollars out your tail pipe.
Winter operations mean more fuel consumption, so here are 10 recommendations to maximize your fuel investment during cold weather. With over 6,000 clients using our Fuel Management solutions we have discovered these are the best ways to cut wasted fuel. Here is the list of Jack Lee’s Top Ten ways to cut down on cold weather fuel costs:
1. Train and educate your drivers: Your drivers can control fuel consumption each time they fire up their engines. Proper training can improve fuel efficiency, economy and emissions. Hard acceleration, speeding and idling are the biggest causes of fuel waste. Initiate a training course for drivers and reward participation.
2. Use Fuel Management Online Software: FMO is a software suite from 4Refuel that puts you in touch with all the fuel consumption data you will need to cut your fuel expenses, guaranteed. Information is available to your desk top including refueling location, the unit fueled and where fill ups were done. Tracking miles traveled, average speed and engine efficiency is critical to cutting fuel costs. This information will help your drivers and managers optimize routes with better planning. FMO sets up easily to import and export your data and it is incredibly user friendly.
3. Decrease Idling: Be aware of the time engines idle. Excessive idling ads to your fuel costs by as much as 50% and can shorten the life of engine oil by 75%, adding even more costs. Initiate a campaign to reduce idling time and reward participants. Allowing an engine to idle more than 3 minutes causes expensive damage which harms efficiency, shortens engine life and increases maintenance costs. It all adds up.
4. Start off slower and stop speeding: Jackrabbit starts waste fuel and save less than 3 minutes per hour driving, but can result in using 40% more fuel and increase toxic emissions by 400%! What’s the rush? Speeding is dangerous; it wastes fuel and creates higher levels of toxic emissions. Speeds over 100 km/hour drastically impact fuel efficiencies. Trucks traveling at 120 km/hour use 50% more fuel and they also emit 100% more carbon monoxide, 50% more hydrocarbons and 31% more nitrogen oxides.
5. Lose Weight: Excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. By removing as little as 100 pounds you can significantly improve your gas mileage. Check each vehicle and pitch out that unnecessary weight!
6. Upload your odometer readings to maximize fuel efficiency: FMO gives you the capability to compare mileage records with fuel consumption at the click of a mouse. When you have all this information, fleet management is simple, and you can cut fuel costs fast when you see a unit that is operating outside of predetermined thresholds.
7. Cut the time you spend calculating IFTA reporting: If you cross provincial, state or national borders you know how much time it takes to file International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) and time is part of calculating your true cost of fuel. FMO will cut your time spent gathering tax information for fleets that cross the U.S. - Canadian border. Refueling data can be batched by region to each specific refueling station so you know to which jurisdiction the fuel taxes are owed.
8. Upgrade your Fleet: Whenever possible, invest in modern, fuel-efficient vehicles. Modern diesel engines are far more fuel-efficient and perform better with modern diesel fuels such as ultra low sulfur diesel and bio-diesel. Measure each piece of equipment for fuel efficiency and get rid of the under performing ones.
9. Service your fleet regularly: This includes having a stringent, well-managed preventive maintenance policy. Regular tire pressure checks can help you cut fuel too. A well maintained vehicle performs better, improves fuel efficiency, reduces toxic emissions and, in the long run, will cost less to maintain. Gather monthly maintenance reports and match them to your fleet numbers and you will stay on top of each unit as well as expenses.
10. Import third-party refueling data: You can measure and manage your fleet better when you have all the information. If your fleet is on the move chances are you refuel from a number of sources whether it is on-site, via your own fuel storage tanks or at card locks. FMO pulls each source together in one report, by unit, so you can review, manage and eliminate wasted fuel.
Your winter fuel consumption will drop and so will your costs even if you employ only half of the suggestions above. That should give you some extra cash to use on heating your office and staying warm, rather than spewing those dollars out your tail pipe.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Did everyone see the new buses that are being introduced to the market? International is bringing out a Type A bus and Starcraft is bringing out a Type C bus. What do you think the market place will be like when these buses are introduced? With a tight market for new buses already, isn’t it going to be hard for a bus manufacturer to make money?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Bus Banter
Hello out there in the bus world. This is my first attempt at writing a blog. I believe the first thing that I am to do is tell a little bit about myself. I am the Sales Director here at National Bus Sales. National Bus Sales has been in business for over 20 years turning out some of the nation’s best reconditioned buses. I have been here over 6 years and have just recently become the Sales Director as we have expanded the number of sales people.
I want all of you that read this to understand that I will always be looking forward to your responses, questions, comments, jokes or subject suggestions concerning school buses, shuttle buses, coach or tour buses, activity buses, special education or lift buses, head start buses, people movers, church buses, corporate buses, used buses, new buses, and everything bus related. Remember to check out our website, nationalbus.com and look for us on Facebook and Twitter. Check out our great inventory of good used and reconditioned buses. We get in new inventory of buses every day. Check out all of the links on this page and look for more links on nationalbus.com.
Next time, I will get into whatever new item has come up in the bus world.
Bus Buffoonery (Jokes)
'Is everyone in the bus?' asked the driver before he closed the door. 'No,' called a lady, 'wait until I get my clothes on.' All the passengers in the bus turned towards the door to look at the woman. She got on with a bag full of laundry.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Safety for School Buses...Industry New by National Bus Sales
It is heartbreaking to hear stories of children getting hurt or killed by a school bus....school buses are supposed to be a safety zone for our children but in fact from kids getting beat to death inside a school bus to children being run over it is a very serious problem.....Just recently a Colorado elementary student 12 years of age was run over by a school bus...In Little Rock, AR, a student opened the emergency door exit and fell out of the bus, hitting his head on the pavement...he later died that same day....
I believe that it is very important for each state to have strict laws governing the safety and procedures for school bus drivers along with strict guidelines in safety to which the schools are ordered to up hold....
Every state is different....some have crossing gates...some now have video camera's....some states and school districts have discussed having a extra person on board other than the driver to help regulate students....I don't know what the magic solution is but I do know that all of us; school district, contractors, teacher, and mothers need to come together and make sure we are doing everything possible to help address the issues in our districts.....
A good resource online is 2safeschools.org....they are a Internet resource with the purpose of helping save a child's life...they have video's and training material for school districts to use....Please check them out....
National Bus Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma leads the nation in providing quality, used, late-model, low-mileage buses at the lowest price. We offer the highest quality pre-owned and reconditioned buses available. We sell used school buses, activity buses, wheelchair lift buses, child care buses, church buses, passenger motor coaches, and shuttle buses. Whether you are a school district, bus contractor or tour operator, we can serve virtually any need.
I believe that it is very important for each state to have strict laws governing the safety and procedures for school bus drivers along with strict guidelines in safety to which the schools are ordered to up hold....
Every state is different....some have crossing gates...some now have video camera's....some states and school districts have discussed having a extra person on board other than the driver to help regulate students....I don't know what the magic solution is but I do know that all of us; school district, contractors, teacher, and mothers need to come together and make sure we are doing everything possible to help address the issues in our districts.....
A good resource online is 2safeschools.org....they are a Internet resource with the purpose of helping save a child's life...they have video's and training material for school districts to use....Please check them out....
National Bus Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma leads the nation in providing quality, used, late-model, low-mileage buses at the lowest price. We offer the highest quality pre-owned and reconditioned buses available. We sell used school buses, activity buses, wheelchair lift buses, child care buses, church buses, passenger motor coaches, and shuttle buses. Whether you are a school district, bus contractor or tour operator, we can serve virtually any need.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
School Bus Ads in OK??
As I have commented before, School Bus Ad's are becoming more and more a hot topic and many schools have varied opinions as to if this is really a good idea or not....just recently the bill passed the house in Oklahoma and now goes back to the Senate for approval...This bill has already been approved in many other states for the use of school districts to use bus advertising--These states include Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. The idea behind the bill is to give the school districts a chance to generate extra money that would help offset cuts caused by budget downturn...
I believe it can help benefit some of the smaller school districts...but then again the smaller the school district the smaller the resource it is to find businesses to advertise....Also, do we really want all that distraction on the road??? Isn't and shouldn't our #1 goal be to make sure our students are safe??
I'm on the fence, I think there is a lot of things still left to consider for schools...like who sets up the cost of the ads??? Who will sell the ads?? Who will manage the funds?? Does the outcome really benefit the school?? Will it save jobs?? Pay for new buses?? Pay for paper??
Time will tell!! As schools implement and decide to do this we should be able to help other schools know the ups and down....
But for now here at National Bus Sales, we have a in house graphic designer who can design ads to help school districts with this process...
I believe it can help benefit some of the smaller school districts...but then again the smaller the school district the smaller the resource it is to find businesses to advertise....Also, do we really want all that distraction on the road??? Isn't and shouldn't our #1 goal be to make sure our students are safe??
I'm on the fence, I think there is a lot of things still left to consider for schools...like who sets up the cost of the ads??? Who will sell the ads?? Who will manage the funds?? Does the outcome really benefit the school?? Will it save jobs?? Pay for new buses?? Pay for paper??
Time will tell!! As schools implement and decide to do this we should be able to help other schools know the ups and down....
But for now here at National Bus Sales, we have a in house graphic designer who can design ads to help school districts with this process...
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Safety for School Buses...Industry New by National Bus Sales
I was recently driving my kids to school in Ok and in our neighborhood the school bus was stopped and a child was laying/sitting on the ground beside it….I waited several minutes because my son said that this child had some mental problems so I thought maybe he just didn’t want to get on the bus….No one came to his aid and I realize no-matter what the issue is/was I should of went to help ( I will not make that mistake again)….after several minutes I finally pulled around the bus so I could get my child to school on time…..After I returned that afternoon I was told that the child had been hit by that school bus….I have no idea how the driver could of hit that child and why was the driver or anyone else in the bus helping him….he suffered some internal injuries but is fine…that’s the good news….so this is an example of why safety on school buses is so important….children have been run over and even killed because drivers didn’t see kids….In LA, they require crossing gates that helps drivers see children at all times, this has proven to be very helpful and a small cost for school…
The newest craze and in some states legislation has passed to help enforce safety at the bus stop. Cameras are not only being installed inside the bus but on the outside as well. Buses are being installed with as many as eight cameras each.
Camera’s can also help in catching drivers that run stop signs which in turn is danger to our children. It seems odd but this happens a lot as these drivers are trying to stay on time.
I think that schools should be looking at the latest technology in safety ….for it is the safety of those children that should be their #1 goal at any cost….If God preserves his children shouldn’t we do everything humanly possible to do the same???
Psalm 97.10 “O you who love the lord, hate evil: He preserves the lives of his saints (the children of God).
National Bus Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma leads the nation in providing quality, used, late-model, low-mileage buses at the lowest price. We offer the highest quality pre-owned, and reconditioned buses available. We sell used school buses, activity buses, wheelchair lift buses, child care buses, church buses, passenger motor coaches, and shuttle buses. Whether you are a school district, bus contractor or tour operator, we can serve virtually any need.
The newest craze and in some states legislation has passed to help enforce safety at the bus stop. Cameras are not only being installed inside the bus but on the outside as well. Buses are being installed with as many as eight cameras each.
Camera’s can also help in catching drivers that run stop signs which in turn is danger to our children. It seems odd but this happens a lot as these drivers are trying to stay on time.
I think that schools should be looking at the latest technology in safety ….for it is the safety of those children that should be their #1 goal at any cost….If God preserves his children shouldn’t we do everything humanly possible to do the same???
Psalm 97.10 “O you who love the lord, hate evil: He preserves the lives of his saints (the children of God).
National Bus Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma leads the nation in providing quality, used, late-model, low-mileage buses at the lowest price. We offer the highest quality pre-owned, and reconditioned buses available. We sell used school buses, activity buses, wheelchair lift buses, child care buses, church buses, passenger motor coaches, and shuttle buses. Whether you are a school district, bus contractor or tour operator, we can serve virtually any need.
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