Why Are School Buses Yellow

Have you ever wondered why all school busses are yellow?

Have you ever wondered why all school buses are yellow?

The short answer is because it's the law. How it became a law is a bit of a longer story.

Back in the days of yore before cars dominated the roadways, children were carted to school in the backs of horse-drawn wagons.

Those wagons were common enough to have an official manufacturer, but walking was still the way most kids got to school.

Once cars entered the picture, buses were soon to follow. The same company that made the wagons started to manufacture them.

Communities that didn't have access to those began to modify existing vehicles for the purpose of moving around a lot of kids at once.

In the 1930s standardization started to occur and in 1939, the Rockefeller Foundation funded a large conference attended by transportation authorities from around the country to discuss school bus safety ideas.

One of the agreed upon standards was using a bright yellow paint because of its high visibility.

The popular option eventually turned into a law and by 1974 all school busses were painted yellow. The official name is National School Bus Glossy Yellow.