Transportation
Dallastown transportation is an important factor in the way students in the Dallastown Area District get to and from school. With the district expanding in the late 50's, the Dallastown buses became the primary source of transportation for its students. Among the many advancements of the district came stricter safety laws that changed the way Dallastown has bused over the years. In the next paragraph you will hear comments from Linda and Dean Wise, long time dispatcher and bus driver, George McCullum, the current transportation director for Dallastown. Also, you will be hearing from Roger Reynolds, former transportation director, and Dwight Markey, who spent forty years as bus driver for Dallastown.
When were Dallastown buses established, you might be wondering? "Somewhere in the late 50's or early 60's," explained Mr. Roger Reynolds. Another, more detailed answer comes from Mr. Dwight Markey. He said, "Probably when the district was established in 1957. With all the new expandments of the district area, Dallastown had to provide a way of transportation to and from school." Mr. Dean Wise tells more about the first buses saying, "There were three buses from Loganville and three buses from Jacobus, which we called the country buses. These buses started around 1958 or so."
Replying on one of the more interesting questions of how many buses did Dallastown first buy and how much did they cost, Linda Wise states, "About 8, cosing around 8-10 thousand or more, depending on the quality."
How unique are the old buses to the newer ones? Dead Wise explained in detail saying, "They were definately not as safe! The older buses had lower seat fronts with an iron bar across the front with no padding on it. Often, students would break out teeth on them. They were also a lot smaller. The buses could only hold 48-60 passengers on them." Roger Reynolds answered short and sweet explaining, "State busing laws made them much safer now then back then."
Forcing of assigned seating is always a hot topic between drivers and students in Dallastown and in every other school. As Linda Wise tries to explain, "Middle and High school were usually not assigned, but elementary was on most occasions. Bus drivers had their own little reasons for this, but most just didn't assign seats." Dwight Markey puts it in a whole nother ball park saying, "The district suggested that the drivers assign seats. If drivers had an accident, they could know where everybody sat on the bus. But most of the times the drivers made the decision based on behavior."
Getting sports teams to other schools did not pose a problem for Dallastown in the 40's, before they obtained their own buses. Dean Wise states that, "Dallastown always had private contracted buses rented to them specifically for the school teams. Even before the contracted buses, local farmers would take the teams in buses they owned."
The Dallastown busing system has changed drastically over the years. The changes have not only come in the buses but also in the way the system runs. Hopefully Dallastown can adapt to the many changes in store for the future.
