HOLLY — Holly Area Schools unveiled its first horse-drawn school bus this week as gasoline prices approached $5 a gallon, making a wooden wagon pulled by two draft horses an increasingly competitive form of public transportation.
The prototype has been painted regulation school-bus yellow and features bench seating, a folding stop sign, rear emergency exit and enough room for 42 students, provided several backpacks are stored somewhere else. District officials said the wagon will begin serving one morning route while transportation staff determine whether horses recognize designated bus stops.
Administrators expect the wagon to reduce fuel costs considerably, replacing daily fuel purchases with hay, oats, veterinary care and occasional horseshoes. Early savings projections remain preliminary after district accountants discovered most existing transportation spreadsheets do not include a column for hay.
“We started looking at this as a joke,” said the district’s newly appointed wagon transportation coordinator. “Then gas went up another 20 cents.”
Students participating in an initial test run reported few problems beyond the additional travel time.
“It’s not bad,” said one fifth-grader. “You can see the bus coming for like 20 minutes.”
Drivers have also begun training on the new equipment, including reins, hitching procedures and the district’s revised protocol for situations in which the bus simply decides it is done moving.
Officials said additional wagons could be added if fuel prices continue to rise. At $6 a gallon, the district said it will begin evaluating whether it would be cheaper to just issue every family a horse.