OXFORD — Who would want a dysfunctional school bus?

Apparently a number of people.

“I’ve seen them used for storage, even for camps,” said Glenn Sirois, transportation director for the Oxford Hills school district.

The district first has to offer retired school buses to the district towns. “If no one wants them we put them out” (for sale), Sirois said. For example, Richard Bean of the Otisfield Highway Department has purchased school buses in the past for their transmissions for his trucks, Sirois said.

But generally, the buses are sold to the highest bidder. While most bring in about $200, Sirois said this year the price is higher. The winning bidder, David Childs of Oxford, offered $4,100 for five school buses.

His competitors were Sunday River Ski Resort, which bid $503 for two; and C&C Recycling, which bid $3,300 for five. The ski resort uses buses to shuttle employees to their work stations.

“This is our first foray into it,” said Hiram Towle, transportation director at Sunday River. The idea to use school buses came this year when the Bethel ski resort purchased one from someone who bought it at an auction. They use it for an employee parking program, Towle said.

“It’s big and reliable and works well on the road,” said Towle of the bus that has been painted white and designed with the Sunday River logos to use on weekends and holidays when employees are asked to park in a remote area of the resort to provide more space for patrons.

Although the resort paid more money to fix the bus up and make it “road ready” than they did to buy it, Towle said it was well worth the investment. Towle said the ski resort will definitely continue to bid on school buses to use as backups.

Sirois said the school district will generally retire the same number of buses that it is allowed to purchase each year through a state bus replacement program.

“Last year we got four,” Sirois said. The state generally recommends buses be retired at 100,000 miles or 10 years, but some of the Oxford Hills buses will be kept on the road well over 200,000 miles if they remain in good shape, he said. Most times school buses are being retired because of rust, he said.

“We push them. We’re one of the biggest districts in the state,” he said of the geographical distance the buses travel in the eight towns of Paris, Norway, Oxford, Otisfield, Harrison, Hebron, Waterford and West Paris.

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This bus, which has been painted white and sits in a lot near the Oxford Police Station on Route 26, is privately owned and outfitted with curtains, perhaps for use as a camper.