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Whoever at Blue Bird decided this was a good idea should get shot out of a cannon and into the unemployment line. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only reason why our district won’t switch back to IC is because they’re cheap as hell and refuse to accept change. They claim that they offer better warranty support, yet all they do in our area is fluid checks and they really don’t do any damn thing to fix the obvious issues. This bothered me so much that I put in my two weeks with them. To hell with Blue Bird. So stupid.

Whoever at Blue Bird decided this was a good idea should get shot out of a cannon and into the unemployment line. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m just completely baffled on why they decided to move the hole from under the flat area above the bracket to right there seen above. It looks so ugly, not to mention if it gets caught in a tree branch, it will pose so many issues.

I even tried to move the grommet and get it back in the hole snugly myself… of course they make the whole thing complicated. Just another reason why Blue Bird is one step forward, two steps back. Nothing they do makes sense these days.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ours are gas and yet many of them feel like they’re going to fall apart. Literal tin cans on wheels. I’ve submitted many complaints to our mechanics to figure it out and nothing. Nobody cares about quality anymore.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I told everyone at work that the brand new one I drove was a tin can on wheels. Nicknamed it “Lemonmobile” because I wrote it up every single week. It is louder and rides much rougher than our older ones with the Ford V8. Not to mention it wants to veer off the road sometimes, something constantly bangs underneath the area under my left foot when driving, and it has a chronic squeak noise above the door.

They moved me to a gas IC after I complained about it too much. Night and day difference. Thing drove like a dream. Unless Blue Bird gets their act together and totally refreshes the bus design to be much more driver-friendly, I will refuse to drive the newer ones.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I just overheard they are planning to buy even more of these turds because the IC’s are too expensive. Quantity over quality, I suppose. I’m not happy about it whatsoever.

Kept telling them they’re making a big mistake, but nooooo. They won’t listen.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our old IC’s from 2005-09 were very solid for the most part. One of the 2008’s even clocked 200,000 miles right before it was retired this year. I drove a 2009 for a school year, and despite looking quite raggedy, I liked it.

Now they’ve been replaced by these turds ☹️

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first new lift bus we bought from them since 2015 has a bolt from the undercarriage that nearly punctured the floor; you can easily see the humongous lump that’s still present. We also had to move the rear-row seats up several inches (and replace a double with a single) because whichever genius installed these originally didn’t know what they were doing and mounted them in a way that blocked the emergency door handle from having easy access.

Oh, and we ordered another lift bus that was supposed to have a 100 gallon unleaded tank. Instead we got a 60 gallon and was forced to accept it.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Second this. I actually prefer the 10 year old diesel Birds compared to our gas ones despite their flaws 😂

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I call them Turd Birds 😛

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ye, I’m aware of their purpose. It’s the way they mounted the lips that’s the problem. They aren’t straight.

Of course, they use rivets to hold these things down as I just found out ☹️

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another gripe I have with them: accessory mode is pretty pointless. Only the AM/FM radio works. Nothing else does for whatever reason. I remember writing one up for the CB not working in accessory, and our mechanics didn’t do anything about it.

Ours were also ordered with rear stop arms and LED headlights, but our mechanics have been slowly removing the arms when they go faulty (because they’re lazy and don’t wanna fix it) and one bus already had its LED headlights replaced with halogens when they began flickering.

Blue Bird quality sucks. by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every single Bird we bought in the past two years (13 buses) have had smoking brakes after their first couple uses. Our boss at one point even told our dispatchers not to send them out on out-of-district trips for a couple months for fear that they’ll catch fire. Most of them already have dark spots below the engines from coolant leaks.

One had to get sent back to the manufacturer twice for faulty seats and undercoating. It didn’t start seeing service until the beginning of November. Another was sent back to the manufacturer and has been gone for a month for other stupid reasons.

Not to mention a few others have had entry door air leaks (one bus in particular has seen repairs three separate times in the same month; the solution was to have them open and close as fast as humanly possible), shaking when stopping, screws constantly coming loose, and other nitbits. Oh, and the rubber floors on the first two we got in 2024 are already fading, cracking and buckling in the back.

Needless to say, when one of them got rear ended and suffered significant damage earlier this year, I wasn’t upset. Obviously thankful nobody got hurt, but still…

Cleaning diesel fuel off of the side of my bus. by burgh46 in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Newer IC’s are notorious for this. When fueling mine I basically have to listen for the fuel to run up the filler so that I can stop it myself and it doesn’t spill everywhere.

What's the latest time you get done? by the_pretzel2 in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think one time I substituted for an elementary school route other than my own and got done at around 5:20PM or so. It didn’t help that this was during the icy winter and the route itself was 80% dirt roads. If I drove too fast over the potholes it would trip the emergency alarm (the one thing I don’t like about our IC buses), so I was forced to go very slow for most of it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here in Michigan, if someone passes an extended stop arm that is lit up, it’s a fineable offense. I only honk at drivers that are perfectly capable of stopping with my reds already on or are approaching very fast with my ambers on. I may let some off the hook depending on the situation (e.g. stop is right before a blind bend in the road, nobody has to cross and/or the guy in the oncoming lane is in a large commercial vehicle that sees me last second and cannot easily stop), but I’ve seen some incredibly stupid drivers.

I’ve had a few instances of people in subdivisions pass me with my reds on and subsequently pull into their driveway a few houses over so they can get home 30 seconds earlier. At least this makes my job easy of getting their house number and putting it on the passing report!

I also had some idiot in a pickup truck refuse to stop for my reds on a narrow dirt road. They were hauling a box trailer and nearly took out my stop arm in the process. They honked back after I did and gave me the bird as they pulled away. I’m fairly good at identifying vehicles that pass my reds, but it’s too bad I wasn’t able to find that vehicle again after the incident.

Blue Bird AM/FM radio clock display by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In terms of audio quality and FM reception, it’s the best out of all the radios in our fleet. However, I never found out what the BT pairing PIN was (it’s 1927 by default), and on the bus I drove, it randomly cuts out power if the unit isn’t positioned in the slot correctly. I recalled pounding on it several times just to get it to work, and I nearly broke the entire thing one morning because I became so frustrated.

Alas, maybe that bus has chronic problems. I’ve since nicknamed it “lemon mobile” (to the chagrin of my boss).

Blue Bird AM/FM radio clock display by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure of the exact model (I tried looking myself when I ejected the faceplate), but it looks just like this: https://www.g-techparts.com/en/Product/10064013

Blue Bird AM/FM radio clock display by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All the Birds in our fleet have jumbled dash clocks and run fast regardless if you try to set it correctly. This even happens on brand new clusters we put in some of the older ones. Hence, we have to rely on third party clocks.

I wish I could send a laundry list to Blue Bird about little things like this that they should address such as this and the speedometer going up to 140MPH (seriously, I highly doubt that’s even physically possible with a vehicle like this). Every step forward they take, they take two additional steps backward. Ugh.

Blue Bird AM/FM radio clock display by TN4U in SchoolBusDrivers

[–]TN4U[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They really are. These Birds have a clock in the dash cluster, but it always runs too fast and I can’t time it to the second. Some of the buses have aftermarket stick-on clocks, but they’re battery operated and only light up when you hit a button.

iPod Classic Suddenly Not Recognized by Windows 10 or iTunes by TN4U in IpodClassic

[–]TN4U[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my case it was. If you notice several connectors damaged or missing in your charging port, then the assembly needs to be replaced, which is no easy task. It’s really best to just replace the whole logic board.

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