The Second Life of School Buses
Once retired, school buses go to auction.
Who would want to buy an old school bus? If you’re thinking the Partridge Family, you’re warm. Thousands of Partridge families around the country buy retired school buses and convert them into RVs, dubbed Skoolies.
The appeal of Skoolies runs deeper than the 1970s TV show. School buses are stout enough to handle rollovers, have a superior ground clearance and are often equipped with diesel engines, which can run on biodiesel or even vegetable oil.
Your Skoolie cannot be yellow. For new tags to be issued, Maryland Department of Motor Vehicle Administration requires buses to be repainted any other color and all extra lights and stop-arms to be removed. Transitioning to an RV then means ripping out seats, installing plumbing and energy systems and scrubbing the interior clean of children’s gum, hopes and dreams.
Should you want to experience a skoolie without taking to the road, try the AirBnB-listed Skoolie in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, for $59 a night, which includes a full bed, Internet, washer and drier and a surprising number of amenities.