Field trip on mini-bus

Cinazu · Sep 1, 2016

My daughter is 7 and in second grade. Her class is taking a field trip next week, and the plan is for them to take the church's mini-bus. It's an Aerotech, like an airport shuttle (all seats face the front), and has seatbelts. I'm not sure if the seatbelts are just lapbelts, but I think they are.

Does this type of bus provide any of the safety that a larger bus does? Or should I just drive her myself? If it does have lap/shoulder belts, is it safe to send her in a booster? My guess is that her class will take the bus every field trip because one of the dads has a CDL to drive it, but the other class uses parent drivers.

Any advice? What would you feel comfortable letting your kid do?

ketchupqueen · Sep 2, 2016

Many mini buses have lap and shoulder belts and often they fit small riders ok. I guess the only way to know is to see the bus and try your child on it. These buses do not meet school bus safety standards. If they have adequate head excursion room you could use a booster but if the seats are close together it wouldn't be a great choice.

I would check the bus out. Pros to this bus are large, low center of gravity, highly visible. Cons are the lack of integrity of the seatback if kids ride unbelted or in lap only belts, potential poor fit and head excursion room (all of which you'd need to look at before deciding) and possibly inexperienced driver it sounds like? (As in not familiar with THIS bus.) You don't get the set route and schoolbus marking protections with this bus.

Field trip on mini-bus

Cinazu

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ketchupqueen

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