Driving the Future of School Transportation

For a century, Blue Bird has led school bus safety and innovation, advancing clean transportation while keeping America’s students secure.

Access to education is not just important for individual and national development, it is a foundational American value. Lyndon B. Johnson famously said, “Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take.” However, access to education requires more than just the systems and institutions that provide it, it requires the ability to reliably and safely transport each child to school. 

Every day, millions of American children require exactly that, and that is where the school bus comes in. It connects students to an education and crucial academic development that they may not otherwise have. Blue Bird Corporation has cemented itself as a leading manufacturer of the buses that take students to school and back safely. 

A Continued Legacy 

Founded by Albert Luce, Sr., Blue Bird promptly began manufacturing school buses, spending the last century defining the modern “yellow” school bus. The company has built more than 620,000 school buses over its lifetime, and about 180,000 of them are still in operation today.

Blue Bird is the only school bus manufacturer that remains U.S.-owned and operated with its headquarters in Macon, Georgia, and its manufacturing facility in Fort Valley, Georgia. That focus shapes everything the company does: design, build, sell and service safe and reliable school buses. 

Safety at the Core

Since its beginning, Blue Bird has been committed to advancing safety in its school buses. More recently, in 2016, the company was first to market with Electronic Stability Control. This feature enhances safety by preventing rollovers and loss-of-control in poor driving conditions. In 2025, they accomplished two major industry milestones. The company made driver airbags standard and became first to market with three-point seatbelts.

Other innovative safety features include:

• High-resolution front and rear cameras
• LED headlights for clearer early-morning and evening visibility
• Illuminated school bus signage and stop arms
• High-intensity exterior LED lighting so nearby drivers actually notice the bus

Cleaner Buses

In addition to making the buses safer, Blue Bird is helping to make the air around its school buses safer with low- and zero-emission school buses. The company produced its first electric bus in 1994 and its first propane bus in 2008. Those early investments have since grown into more than 25,000 propane and electric school buses sold. Collectively, these buses reduce tens of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Yellow Buses Matter

Blue Bird’s purpose comes down to a single idea it has valued for 100 years. Keep children safe, protect the drivers, and look out for the communities those buses serve. The company continues to innovate to make buses worthy of the most important passengers there are.