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Figure 13. Type A school bus.
Figure 15. Type D school bus.
States own over 60,000 school buses and vehicles used as
school buses. Firms own almost all of their vehicles with lit-
tle additional leasing activity. Only about 600 of the firms in
MCMIS report having for-hire service. As fleet size increases,
firms are more likely to have for-hire service. An additional
3,000 firms could not be classified, either due to a lack of data
or because they have equal operations in multiple categories
(e.g., truck and motorcoach, motorcoach and school bus).
As shown in Figure 16, of the school bus companies reg-
Figure 14. Type C school bus. istered in MCMIS, almost half operate a single vehicle and
nearly three-quarters operate five or fewer vehicles.
The figures obtained from MCMIS can be compared with
data obtained from other industry sources. Table 13 presents
INDUSTRY SIZE AND EXTENT
data for the largest school bus contractors and number of vehi-
Carriers by Size cles by fleet size, as well as data for all firms and vehicles.
School Bus Fleet magazine, an industry publication, conducts
Table 12 shows the number of carriers by size as obtained annual surveys of the largest contractor fleets, both interstate
from MCMIS. According to this database (which includes all and intrastate. Its survey shows a greater number of large firms
interstate but only selected intrastate firms), over 3,000 school and vehicles than are reported in MCMIS, potentially because
bus contractor firms with business activities in the United some of these firms may not have interstate operations and
TABLE 12 Number of school bus contractor firms, school buses owned, and school buses
owned/operated, by fleet size, 2000
School Bus Contractor
Number of School Buses Number of School Buses
Number of Firms Owned Owned/Operated
Fleet Size All For Hire All For Hire All For Hire
1,000+ 3 3 32,033 32,033 32,033 32,033
500-999 5 4 3,034 2,484 3,034 2,484
100-499 51 36 8,218 5,309 9,121 6,082
50-99 84 60 5,172 3,821 5,413 3,869
25-49 167 97 5,646 3,271 5,785 3,371
10-24 299 115 4,368 1,716 4,554 1,797
6-9 203 46 1,423 320 1,464 333
2-5 827 139 2,296 416 2,389 440
1 1,428 121 1,396 117 1,428 121
Total 3,067 621 63,586 49,487 65,221 50,530
Note: This table excludes 82 firms with equal-sized school bus and motorcoach operations, 595 firms with equal-sized
school bus and trucking operations, and 2,157 bus firms that did not specify the type of vehicles they owned.
Source: FMCSA MCMIS, 2000.
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5% Table 14 and Figure 17. The geographic locations were estab-
5% lished by the MCMIS carrier address, and may or may not
50+ reflect the actual operating region of the company. In addition,
10%
25-49
MCMIS does not include all intrastate firms. Census Bureau
10-24
regions were used to define geographic areas as follows:
7%
47% 6-9
2-5 · West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii,
1 Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,
27%
Washington, Wyoming;
· Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,
Note: A total of 3,067 firms is represented. This chart excludes
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,
82 firms with equal-sized school bus and motorcoach operations, South Dakota, Wisconsin;
595 firms with equal-sized school bus and trucking operations, · South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Colum-
and 2,157 bus firms that did not specify the type of vehicles
operated.
bia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Source: FMCSA MCMIS, 2000. Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia;
Figure 16. Percentage of school bus contractor
· Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New
firms by fleet size owned/operated, 2000.
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Vermont;
therefore would not be registered in MCMIS. Industry figures · Canada;
for all firms and vehicles (including all interstate and intra- · Mexico; and
state firms) are significantly larger than MCMIS for-hire fig- · Other: Puerto Rico, U.S. territories (including the U.S.
ures. This result suggests that only approximately 20 percent Virgin Islands and the Northern Marinara Islands).
of all school bus contractor firms are registered in MCMIS.
As shown in Figure 17, the school bus firms registered in
Geographic Distribution MCMIS are heavily concentrated in the South and Midwest,
but the majority of these firms are private and do not offer for-
The school bus contractor industry also can be described hire service (for example, a school bus operated exclusively
based on the geographic locations of each firm, as shown in by a church group). When considering only for-hire school
TABLE 13 Comparison of MCMIS (2000), School Bus Fleet (2002, 2003), and Census Bureau
data (1997)
Fleet Size Industry Firms MCMIS For-Hire Firms Industry Vehicles MCMIS For-Hire Vehicles
1,000+ 10 3 83,036 32,033
500-999 14 4 9,734 2,484
All 3,285 621 112,013 50,530
Source: School Bus Fleet magazine, "2003 Top 50 Contractor Fleets" (Industry Firms and Vehicles by Fleet Size); School
Bus Fleet magazine, "State-by-State Transportation Statistics 2001 to 2002" (Industry Total Vehicles); Census Bureau 1997
Economic Census (Industry Total Firms).
TABLE 14 School bus firms by geographic region, 2000
Number of School Bus Firms
Region All For Hire
West 364 67
Midwest 1,164 255
South 1,129 108
Northeast 385 176
Canada 24 15
Mexico 1 0
Other 0 0
Note: This table excludes 82 firms with equal-sized school bus and motorcoach operations, 595 firms with
equal-sized school bus and trucking operations, and 2,157 bus firms that did not specify the type of vehicles
they owned.
Source: FMCSA MCMIS, 2000.
