Kelowna

New wheels will be going round and round as school districts around the province receive new buses.

The province announced Tuesday it will distribute $10.5M to 32 school districts to replace old buses in their fleets with new, cost-effective ones.

The Central Okanagan School District (SD23) received $226,002 for one 70 passenger bus and one 84 passenger bus.

Secretary-Treasurer Larry Paul says the district receives buses based on the age of the fleet.

"We have two buses that are at the end of the economic life where is it becoming more expensive to maintain them and keep them road worthy. So the government does support us in maintaining them."

Every year school districts put in a request for buses depending on age of the fleet, and Paul says the province will provide the buses if they have the financial means.

"Last year we actually got 11 new buses, and that is a significant change over of our fleet. So looking at two buses this year it just helps to keep refreshing the basics."

About 100 buses will be purchased after the ministry and the Association of Student Transportation Services of BC negotiated fixed prices from multiple BC vendors to help save approximately 15 per cent on bus replacement.

School districts will be able to chose from different vendors and purchase buses at the most competitive prices regardless of where they are in the province. The same deal is also available to independent and band-operated schools.

According to Paul in the past, school districts have had to go through a Request For Proposals  process which adds length to the delivery time of the buses. 

"The government has gone through and eliminated that process so we can just look at the vendor list and pick who we want to deal with."

The buses will start rolling approximately six months after the bill time.

Other school districts which have received provincial funding to update their fleets:

• School District Vernon (SD22) :$707,000 ---- Seven 70-passenger buses.
• School District Okanagan Similkameen (SD53): $199,900 ---- Two 76 passenger Buses.
• School District Okanagan-Shuswap (SD 83): $507,514 ---- Five 76 passenger buses.