Skip to main content

Redflex acquires Smart Bus

Redflex Traffic Systems has acquired SBL Investments, and Americore Enterprises, leading providers of automated school bus arm photo enforcement in the United States. SBL and Americore offer the Smart Bus system, a dedicated on‐bus photo enforcement system intended to ‘Protect Our Most Precious Cargo, our children’. The acquisition positions Redflex as a leading provider of school bus safety photo enforcement technology at a time when more and more school districts are using the technology to deter reckless
May 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
112 Redflex Traffic Systems has acquired SBL Investments, and Americore Enterprises, leading providers of automated school bus arm photo enforcement in the United States. SBL and Americore offer the Smart Bus system, a dedicated on‐bus photo enforcement system intended to ‘Protect Our Most Precious Cargo, our children’. The acquisition positions Redflex as a leading provider of school bus safety photo enforcement technology at a time when more and more school districts are using the technology to deter reckless drivers who ignore school bus safety laws and put children at risk.

The transaction is valued at US$4.5 million initially with further payments over four years subject to meeting financial performance measures.

SBL and Americore will continue to operate as separate entities with Redflex as sole owner. Smart Bus President and CEO Tom O’Connor will be retained as president of Redflex’s school bus arm operations and the senior leadership and staffs of the two companies will remain in their current positions. Redflex plans to merge the Smart Bus system with its Redflex Student Guardian school bus arm photo enforcement system which was recently introduced.

“The acquisition of Smart Bus further solidifies our position as a leader in photo enforcement globally, and expands the opportunity to provide products and services into this emerging market” said Graham Davie, CEO, Redflex Holdings. “We are pleased that Tom has agreed to lead our North American school bus arm enforcement operations and that his leadership and staff will remain in place. They have strong knowledge of the industry and a track record of success.”

The Smart Bus system is currently being deployed by school districts in several states across the US, but opportunities exist in many other communities to expand the use of the school bus arm enforcement technology and introduce the use of other Redflex products, including intersection, speed and rail safety cameras. Ten states currently allow the use of school bus arm enforcement technology and at least ten others are considering legislation which would authorise its use.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The benefits of combining enforcement and traffic management
    February 27, 2013
    Jason Barnes considers how combining enforcement equipment with other traffic management technologies might benefit our future – if only the will were really in place to do so. During the ITS World Congress in Vienna in October last year, Navtech Radar and Vysion­ics ITS announced a strategic partnership that would combine the expertise of Navtech in millimetre-wave wide-area surveillance technology with Vysionics’ machine vision-based automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and average speed measurement
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
  • Tolling is the 21st century’s road funding solution
    June 5, 2015
    HNTB’s Rick Herrington and Brad Guilmino put the case for tolling. Tolling is becoming the 21st century solution of choice for generating additional user-based transportation revenue. The proven funding source is being seriously considered for expanded use by cities, states and even the federal government with support from elected officials across the political spectrum. In fact, with each federal transportation reauthorisation, tolling restrictions have been relaxed.
  • Carbon finance delivers critical support to mass transit schemes
    February 2, 2012
    David Crawford investigates carbon finance in transport. World Bank carbon finance grants are delivering critical support to major mass transit deployments in emerging and developing economies. Only recently operative in the transport sector, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM, see panel) is designed to generate additional income streams and improve internal rates of return on projects funded from public- and private-sector sources.