BLUE BIRD E
EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, HENRY LUCE MANUFACTURED “SCHOOL BUS No. 1” on a Ford Model-T platform, and five years later in 1932 founded Blue Bird. Today, the manufacturer is leading the way with the most large bus alternative-fuel options on the market, especially propane, to drive down total cost of ownership. Te company has seen a rash of school districts across the
nation recently order and receive the Next-Generation Propane- Powered Vision conventional, which was unveiled at the 2011 STN EXPO Trade Show and went into full production earlier in February. Recently, Blue Bird said it filled the largest order to date when First Student purchased 86 of the propane-autogas buses for its customer Portland Public Schools in Oregon. That decision was certainly affected by reports from Ari-
zona to Minnesota, Georgia to Indiana on fuel savings. In May, the Mesa Unified School District in the Phoenix area said its fleet of 30 propane vehicles saved $5,600 in fuel, or 32 cents less per mile than its diesel buses. That equated to a 60-per- cent savings increase, and the district also reduced its carbon footprint by about 7,200 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Then, in June, Eastern Carver County Schools outside of
Minneapolis reported that it and contractor Student Trans- portation America saved a total of $67,000 since 2010 on fuel costs, even without a $0.50 federal rebate that expired at the end of last year. Eastern Carver said it was paying about $0.82 per gallon for propane. Portland Public Schools, meanwhile, said it was paying $0.91 per gallon. “Schools across the nation are experiencing the environ-
36 School Transportation News Magazine August 2012
Blue Bird has come along way since its bus “No. 1” (left) that was built in the late1920s. Customers are realizing big savings in fuel costs with the manufacturer’s next-generation, propane-autogas Vision conventional school bus (right) that went into production in February. The company said propane autogas is the fastest-growing alternative fuel in the industry.
mental and economic benefits of Blue Bird’s propane buses,” said Phil Horlock, president and CEO of Blue Bird. All this while realizing increased horsepower and torque over
the first-generation Vision propane that came out in 2007. It wasn’t much longer ago that many school districts gave up on kits that converted gasoline-powered buses to the alternative fuel because of a lack of power. Te new Vision features a propane autogas fuel system implemented by partner ROUSH CleanTech, which works with Ford to calibrate the three-valve, V-10 engine codes, to in-
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