The tools for cleaning buses depend upon the area of bus which has to be cleaned. The major areas of the bus which have to be cleaned are :

1. Bus Exterior
2. Bus Interiors
3. Bus Upholstery

This article is about cleaning the bus Exteriors.

 

Bus Exterior Cleaning

Bus exterior needs to be cleaned regularly to maintain the bus paint finish and to maintain the brand image of the bus company. There can be three ways to do it.

1. Manual High-Pressure Cleaner
2. Automatic Trolley/Gantry type Bus Wash Equipment
3. Drive-Through Bus wash equipment

 

Manual High-Pressure Cleaner

 

 

Manual High-pressure washers/cleaners are the best way to wash a bus when the numbers are small like 2 -3 buses a day. The high-pressure washer/cleaner uses high-pressure water to remove dirt. Since the water is pressurised, the water can reach higher regions and can clean light dirt in higher areas. However, for a thorough cleaning, one must use the platform if it is regular work. We do not recommend ladders and light-duty working platforms with high pressure as the jerk of the high pressure may topple the user due to the reaction of the high pressure.

( See High Pressure Cleaners )

Automatic Trolley / Gantry type Bus Wash Equipment

 

 

This type of washing equipment is best for a fleet size of 6 - 12 buses/hour. There are options of high-pressure bus wash equipment and brush bus wash equipment. The equipment washes the roof of the bus effectively. Most brush wash systems have 3 brushes, two vertical brushes and one for the roof. Additional Bus Skirt Brushes can be added for better cleaning of the lower areas of the bus. Bus Wash equipment for buses with luggage carriers may have only two vertical brushes and the roof brush can be omitted. The roof is then cleaned by high pressure only. ( See KKE 504 - 3 Brush Automatic Truck Wash Equipment , KKE 503 - Hgh Pressure Automatic Truck Wash System , KKE 403 - Automatic Bus / Truck Wash Equipment )

Drive Through Bus Wash Equipment

 

Drive through bus wash systems are suited for a fleet size of 30 -60 buses / hour. Like the trolley type bus wash equipment, this too can be High Pressure bus Wash System, Brush Bus Wash System or a combination bus wash equipment. In drive thru bus wash equipment, the bruses are driven thru the bus wash equipment slowly. The equipment gets activated as soon as it senses the presence of the bus in the system. In Drive through systems are mostly a bit over designed as the much of the cleaning results depend upon teh ability of the bus driver to control the bus speed. A little over designing of the bus wash equipment helps in cleaning even if the driver moves through at a little higher speed. ( See KKE 501 : Drive Thru Truck Wash System )