What is the color of your school bus?

Every single school bus in the United States is painted the exact same color — a hue officially known as National School Bus Glossy Yellow — but it wasn't always that way. A century ago, kids were transported to school by all kinds of random vehicles.



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One of them was that all school buses should be national school bus glossy yellow. The color was chosen because it's registered by the human eye faster than any other color. It's seen in a person's peripheral vision 1.24 times faster than the color red.

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A 1939 school bus seen in a museum display. Its orange color predates the adoption of school bus yellow.

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If you live in the United States, the color of most school buses is not a pure yellow (like the color of lemons). It's not the same color as an orange either. The color of a school bus is yellow-orange. This color is a mixture of lemon yellow and orange ...

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School buses in Japan are also yellow in color and often come in whimsical shapes modeled after popular cartoon characters such as Pikachu, Hello Kitty, and Thomas the Tank Engine.

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While buses in the U.K. aren't usually yellow, there is, in fact, a school transportation system. More than a million children in the nation use school transport provided by transit buses, contracted coaches, mini-buses and taxis each day.

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Red has been the colour of London buses ever since, becoming famous around the world. The winged wheel was also one of the precursors of the famous roundel symbol still used by Transport for London today.

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Back in 1992, The New York Times reported on a study in North Carolina that found that school buses with white tops were roughly 10 degrees cooler inside on summer days than those with yellow tops. During the hottest hours, the contrast could rise to 17 degrees.

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Initially christened National School Bus Chrome (a reference to the lead-chromate yellow in the original paint), the United States General Services Administration (GSA) now calls the color National School Bus Glossy Yellow, or Color 13432 in the Federal Standard 595a color collection that GSA uses for government ...

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For years, school districts in a number of states have been charging parents for transportation as a convenience if they live within a certain distance from school, often two miles or less. Those who live farther away traditionally have gotten free bus service.

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Daily life. Both Japanese elementary and middle schools begin around 7:50 AM, with lessons starting at 8:30 AM. Japanese schools do not have school buses, both because of the small size of most school districts and because of the availability of public transportation.

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Israel is the only country in the developed world where children go to school six days a week.

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