Why a School Bus?
- JCAndazola
- Jan 22, 2019
- 3 min read
Why did we decide to buy a school bus instead of a camper or an RV?
It's a question a lot of people wonder about, so I'm here to tell you the answer. There are actually a few reasons why we chose a school bus:
School buses are designed to carry our most precious cargo, our kids, to and from school. They are made to a different highway safety code, which is the highest in our country. The design of the school bus is such that, should a bus get into an accident or a roll over, the passengers will survive. Here are the statistics for fatalities that were "school-transportation-related." To put that in perspective, here are the statistics for RV accidents. When searching for all the accidents on the web, many RV's & Campers are completely demolished whereas it takes a semi-truck or a train to demolish a school bus. I don't plan on running into any of those anytime soon.
2. Price Tag
When looking for the price to outright buy a camper/RV vs a school bus the price is not black and white. There are several things to consider, including how much work are you willing to put into your traveling home? I have always daydreamed about building my own home, so buying a bus, knowing that I will have to do all the work to make it a house did not frighten me. With that said, to buy an RV and then remodel would have been more expensive than buying a bus and converting. If you would like to see more details on the costs of conversions check out these guys: DiscoveringUsBus. They have been an excellent resource for me.
3. Reliability/Maintenance
School Buses are diesel engine as the standard, are maintained on a regular basis, and typically retired due to regulations put in place by the school districts. Diesel engines are also incredibly reliable for many miles if maintained properly. Diesel engines also is more fuel efficient than gas. I did many hours of research on this subject and don't really care to re-research this to give you the links. If you are that interested in the engine, I suggest you look into it here for starters.
4. Customization
As I said before, a Skoolie or converted school bus, is a lot of work, but this is exciting to me since I am an artist and like my mom said, "This will be your greatest art project yet!" I know what I want and I have the opportunity to make it happen with a bus.
5. Price Tag
Yes, I said cost twice. Not only is the overall cost cheaper, but I am able to pay for it incrementally without going into debt. I can convert what I can afford, when I can afford it. While I have to live in the bus during this looong conversion process, not everyone has to do this.
6. Resources, Support, Upcycling
I have found tons and tons of fellow skoolie families and individuals who have all been super supportive. It is a whole new society of like minded people. Most everyone that I have contacted or read about have a huge desire to live a cleaner, greener, more freeing lifestyle. They are incredibly inclusive and are more than happy to answer questions, give creative input, and make excellent sustainable suggestions. This has been a HUGE joy and improvement in my attitude towards my decision.
While everything listed are just some of my reasons for taking on a Skoolie, there are in fact, several drawbacks to doing it this way. Check out this page or this one for a better Pros & Cons description.
What do you think? Let me know in the Comments section.
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