It's............

old news

What about elephants on skis?

TFA: Sometimes Lake Superior [...] is too chunky with ice for a ferry but not quite solid enough to make an ice bridge [...] During those times, the Bayfield School District turns to its windsled, locally designed, built and operated to glide over thin ice.

What could go wrong?

"What's nice here is if you start sliding, you're not going to hit anything."

What about other cars?

I came here for the crazy modified School bus pics

"Last year's operating cost for the windsled, which serves 20 students who routinely need transportation across the bay, was $21,358. (In warmer weather, the district pays for a ferry, whose cost last year was $30,435.)"

All that for 20 kids. I guess it could be worse but it could be better. MOVE SOMEWHERE WARMER!!!!

Ugly...

Wisconsin. Of farking course.

Ditto
"What's nice here is if you start sliding, you're not going to hit anything."

What about other cars?

They simply sink to the bottom of the lake and make way.

Cue lawyer from Sweet Hereafter.

What is it?

It's a piston engine!

How do you cook it?

You don't cook it! It's a piston engine!

A Piston Engine?

I was expecting an actual school bus with giant skis affixed to it somehow. I was hoping for video of it going downhill.

I was disappointed.

There's a school that's sure to produce future moguls.

Malinki: I was expecting an actual school bus with giant skis affixed to it somehow. I was hoping for video of it going downhill.

I was disappointed.

I was looking for a group of kids demanding two dollars.

baka-san: Didn't Dirty Jobs do a story on this place, no cars, just horses on the island. Can't remember the name of the place.

That was Mackinac Island in Michigan.....

dark side of the moon: strangeguitar: It's............

Monty Python's.........

flying circus...

Did they really say half a million bucks to build that thing? Wouldn't a hovercraft have been cheaper?

drjekel_mrhyde

Hah! They built that thing in the steel shop I work in. Very cool people, even for a bunch of hippies.

baka-san
I think you were thinking Mackinac island... Go Mackinac Fudge!
/MI > WI

FriarReb98: peregrineeagle: dark side of the moon: strangeguitar: It's............

Monty Python's.........

flying circus...

::whistles Liberty Tree Bell March::

They didn't say but I assume it can float if needed?

Hovercraft would be faster and could be operated in all seasons.

SamTana: Did they really say half a million bucks to build that thing? Wouldn't a hovercraft have been cheaper?

I doubt it. School districts aren't renowned for their financial resources, so this was probably the cheapest option considering the unique conditions the vehicle has to operate in.

My hovercraft is full of eels.

peregrineeagle: It's............

Monty Python's.........

flying circus...

sesesesesessssss

And now for something completely different: A Scotsman on a horse.

/approves

vodka: They didn't say but I assume it can float if needed?

Hovercraft would be faster and could be operated in all seasons.

A hovercraft would cost just as much if not more and the operating costs would be massively larger. This vehicle is a swamp boat for ice. It would also be almost impossible to get a hovercraft across a bed of ice without getting ripped to shreds. It is not navigating a thick bed of ice. It is navigating too much ice for a boat and too little for a bus.

FTFA: "It's just an everyday thing," said Carrie Nelson, 14. "It's just our life."

She understands her fate in a place like that

You know what's better? "A school bus on LSD. The way an education outta be."


/obscure?

It's not even yellow.

/meh

SharkUW: A hovercraft would cost just as much if not more and the operating costs would be massively larger. This vehicle is a swamp boat for ice. It would also be almost impossible to get a hovercraft across a bed of ice without getting ripped to shreds. It is not navigating a thick bed of ice. It is navigating too much ice for a boat and too little for a bus.

Tell that to all the people (including the US post office) operating hovercraft in Alaska. Ice is no problem.

I doubt it would be any more expensive to operate. They stated in the article their current bus needs constant maintenance from the beating it takes on the ice.

You know if Sam Kinison was still alive, he'd tell 'em to MOVE WHERE IT'S WARMER!

chechcal: School districts aren't renowned for their financial resources, so this was probably the cheapest option considering the unique conditions the vehicle has to operate in.

Operating expenses per year, $20k for this thing + $30k for a ferry when the ice melts...a 25 place hovercraft might be close to a tossup.

SCHOOLBUS!!! (new window)

Don't die, grandpa!

Threadkiller, that is if you get the picture reference.