The Hall County School district announced on Thursday it would be using a new system to sanitize its buses, one that could keep germs and viruses off surfaces for six months or even up to a year. 

Previously, drivers had been sanitizing buses twice daily, school transportation officials said. Transportation staff will still be tasked with applying the disinfectant in coming weeks, and the process takes an average of an hour per bus. But transportation staff say multiple buses will be treated at once. 

The estimated cost to sanitize the district's entire school bus fleet is approximately $40,000, though labor costs will vary depending on how long the work takes, according to Clay Hobbs, Hall’s director of transportation.

The system intends to use products from the Zep Corporation in a three-way process that involves cleaning, disinfecting and coating surfaces with a protectant.

Hobbs said the new process will “lessen the load” on Hall County bus drivers, as well as keep the buses clean and safe.

“I feel like this program will make a huge difference in the overall health of our students and bus drivers,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs said the district has 341 buses in service and plans to treat 90 of them, 12 to 15 from each school cluster. When the first phase is complete, he said the system will examine the results of the new method before extending it to more buses.

“We want to ensure the treatment is effective,” he added.

For more information, contact Hobbs at clay.hobbs@hallco.org.