Last fall at NAPT, representatives at Starcraft Bus confirmed a partnership with Hino Trucks to develop a Type C conventional school bus for the North American market. But first, Hino school buses will be used in the Middle East.

Twenty-five, transit-style Hino school buses were recently delivered to operators in the United Arab Emirates. The school buses were unveiled at a commercial vehicle trade show in Dubai. Meanwhile, Starcraft plans to show its new Type C on a Hino chassis to dealers this fall at a national dealer's meeting.

ConstructionWeekOnline.com reported today that Hino's bus distributor in the United Arab Emirates, Al Futtaim Motors, a major Toyota and Hino dealer in the region, and Emirates Transport reached a deal on the yellow buses. Emirates Transport is the largest school bus operator in the Middle East with a fleet of more than 2,500 buses.

The online magazine also reported that Hino returned to the UAE bus market for the first time in the past 20 years. Several representatives of local operations were frequent attendees at the STN EXPO in Reno until travel restrictions post 9/11 curtailed their annual visits.

Then, this year, three representatives from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education attended the 17th STN EXPO, which concluded last week.

Meanwhile, Emirates Transport this week announced that it ordered 350 new school buses for the 2010-2011 school year, 60-passenger buses from the likes of Blue Bird, Daewoo and Hyundai, and smaller 30-passenger buses from Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota.

"The new buses are fully-equipped as per the international approved standards and specifications of safety and security for the transported students," explained Jasem Mohamed Al-Marzooqi, the executive manager of the school transportation center at Emirates Transport.

"They include all the internal and external security elements in accordance with the highest relevant quality standards," he added. "The internal safety is provided through the comfortable high back seats, the high ceiling and flat ground. This is in addition to the provision of the safety and security elements such as emergency equipments, the first aid kit, the fire extinguisher and the seat belt in the main seats.

"As for the external elements of the buses, these are: the appropriate color, which is yellow, the design of the school bus door which suits the age of the students so as to help them in getting on and off the bus. Moreover, there are the traffic lights, the warning signs, the electronic arm and the 'stop' sign."