Half should be on the road in the next few weeks

CULLMAN, Ala. —

Dozens of new Cullman County school buses parked at a Birmingham dealership are equipped with air-conditioning.

Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette said they've been working on cooling off student commutes for years.

So what does he say to the generations who endured the hot, sweaty rubber seats through the years?

“A lot of the young people that we have right now that we serve, were not raised outside in the heat as much. They're more used to the air-conditioning area and they're conditioned to that,” Barnette said.

Once the a/c-filled school rides roll out, more than half of Cullman County's fleet will be fully climate-controlled.

Just how hot can it get in a school bus without air-conditioning on a hot August week like this?

After lowering half of the windows in one of the new buses with the engine off for several minutes, our anemometer showed a reading of 100.1 degrees with this bus sitting idle.

“For those kids that are on the bus for almost an hour, you know, they don't need to be in the heat at all. And we realize that,” Barnette said.

However, that comfort comes with a cost.

Cullman County is spending about $500,000 to put a/c in this new shipment of buses.

Barnette claims trying to retrofit existing buses, though, would cost twice as much.

“So when we got down and we started looking at this and we were going to spend this much money and we're about to take out a loan for these buses, we just thought like it was the time to do it,” he said.

The total price of a brand-new school bus can top $125,000.