Robles, Calif., in July installed the North Hollywood fueling station, which is just one of 14 in L.A. Ted Olsen, Delta’s al- ternative fuels manager, said that propane fueling stations cost up to $60,000, depending on the size of the tank. “We are putting in four refueling dispensers, so they
can refuel four buses at the same time. Te fueling time is similar to gasoline. Every school district has its own infra- structure on their property,” Olsen said. Enrique Boull’t, LAUSD director of transportation, said
he had to balance budgetary demands with student needs before choosing the propane fueling system. “When we solicited bids for the Type C — considering
the size, lifts and number of students — we did it for gaso- line, CNG and propane, and the only viable OEM was the Blue Bird propane bus,” he said. “We’re looking forward to including it in our fleet.”
BIODIESEL AND HYBRID ENGINES MIX IT UP Boull’t noted that LAUSD, which must still replace 100
older Type C buses, is also testing a premium-grade soy biodiesel fuel. “We want to see if a lesser grade will still achieve the
same economy for us with emissions reductions as the current blend. We’re still trying to address the regulatory requirements,” he continued. In terms of maintenance and infrastructure, Boull’t said
biodiesel fueling systems would be more convenient and less expensive than either propane or CNG. LAUSD’s fleet of 1,300 includes 172 CNG school buses, 100 brand-new gas buses, 90 propane lift buses and 90 buses on biodiesel, according to Boull’t.
Meanwhile, New Mexico is gearing up for a state re-
quirement that all diesel fuel sold to school districts by next July contain at least a 5 percent blend of biodiesel. By July 2012, the requirement goes into effect at all con- sumer pumps. Tomas Built Buses’ launch of a new hybrid school bus
shows yet another way of “greening up” diesel fuel. Tom- as developed the prototype for the hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2E last year and has received seven customer orders as of this writing, said Mary Aufdemberg, manager of Tomas’ Cen- ter for Education. “It is a Type C, built on Saf-T-Liner bus [that] uses re-
generative technology,” said Aufdemberg. “A big appeal for the regenerative hybrid is that no new infrastructure is needed.” David Nethercut, sales education manager at Tomas,
said this hybrid school bus is the first of its kind. “We’re the first to introduce the Eaton hybrid system
in a school bus,” he said. “Tis is a diesel vehicle with electric power.” Because of the way the battery recharges itself, less fuel
is used in shorter trips, Nethercut explained, which trans- lates into lower carbon dioxide emissions. “When you take your foot off the accelerator, the ve-
hicle will regenerate the power used by the battery pack. A school bus operation in an urban environment, with a lot of stop and go, is the ideal environment for the hybrid bus,” he said. Meanwhile, it was three years ago at the 13th An-
nual School Transportation News EXPO that IC Bus an- nounced a partnership with Enova systems to bring to
Change is inevitable in the industry as we try to improve the quality of air for
students and take the initiative to reduce diesel emissions.
LAUSD director of transportation 56
“ ”
>> Enrique Boull’t,
School Transportation News Magazine | September 2009
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