SPECIAL REPORT
Propane Best Immediate Option For Greening Fleet, Says Rural Missouri School District
Written by Taylor Ekbatani |
taylor@stnonline.com W
hen electric isn’t the right fit, at least not yet, school district leaders look toward other green fleet options. For Neosho School District in Missouri, located in the
southwest corner of the state, propane has stood out as the winning choice for the past 10 years. Marty Marks, the transportation director for the district, explained that the director before him spearheaded the tran- sition to propane through grants. He shared that in addition to having funding help, the cost savings for the district fur- thered validated their decision to adopt propane in 2014. He added that it took about a year to get all the
groundwork done, the school buses ordered, and the propane tank installed on-site, noting the process start- ed around 2012 or 2013. Marks joined the district three years ago. Currently the fleet consists of 59 school buses, 17 of which are powered by propane. The propane buses are in regular operation alongside 35 gasoline buses and seven diesels. “I can’t say all 17 are out there every single day, but the
majority are,” he shared, adding Neosho currently has a 2,000-gallon propane tank and three fuelers. The fuelers conducted training through an AmeriGas.
program. The fuel supplier sends representatives to the district site to train employees. “We fuel daily, just depending on the amount of pro- pane that we go through, depending on trips and things like that,” Marks said. “[The supplier] comes out a min- imum of once a week, sometimes even twice a week. Just depending on how much propane we actually use [to refuel the tank.]” He added that every year the district purchases about five buses. This year, two of those were propane.
22 School Transportation News • JUNE 2024 In terms of activity trips, he said he feels comfortable
dispatching a propane bus on trips of up to two hours in duration. However, some of their trips are several hours long, and it’s rare to find a propane station that’s open later in the evening for the trip home. In terms of current propane availability for school
routes, Marks said Neosho hasn’t had any issues while providing economies of scale. “Our entire fleet is man- ufactured by Blue Bird—whether it’s a propane bus or a gasoline bus, you have a lot of the same parts. The braking systems are the same, the exhaust systems are the same, the bus seats are the same,” he noted. “In that sense, keeping all of our buses through Blue Bird has been awesome for us. We’re not having to find different manufacturers for different parts.” He continued, “And as far as the propane itself, we
have an AmeriGas location here in our town. They keep us fueled and we never have any problems with it.” He recalled when a fuel pump station went offline
because it required a new part. AmeriGas sent a delivery truck to the location every day to fill up their buses, with- out an extra charge. “It was just a really good customer service,” he said. Over a month-long period, his buses travel 50,000
miles, a third of which are powered by propane. Going forward, Neosho continues to prioritize pro- pane and gasoline as it moves away from diesel. “In our opinion, just looking at the data that’s out there and the price point for the electric buses, it’s just not a fit for our district at this point,” Marks said, adding that Neo- sho doesn’t qualify for the priority status given to districts with a lower economic status. “So, we haven’t received the grants for free electric buses. We’re holding off on
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