Expert panels presented by major school bus manufacturers at STN EXPO East Green Bus Summit centered on the theme of industry flexibility and resiliency
Written by Claudia Newton |
claudia@stnonline.com
electric vehicle norm of the past several years, when held at STN EXPO East in March. Conversations at the new location, near Charlotte, North Carolina, turned to a more inclusive embrace of all available school bus fuels
T
he Green Bus Summit, a curated learn- ing opportunity for student transporters to discover the latest advancements in sustainable transportation, broke from the
and energy to meet emissions mandates, reflecting the regulatory and funding environment that shifted over the past six months. The following is a recap of what OEMs shared. Electric school buses will be more of a focus next month as the Green Bus Summit returns to STN EXPO West in Reno, Nevada. But expect more conversations about propane, gasoline and even diesel than in years past.
Blue Bird Luke Patrick, director of main- tenance and training for the South Carolina Department of Education, shared the benefits and challenges of working with electric, propane, gasoline and diesel in the statewide fleet of 5,620 school buses. No matter the fuel, he said, good work- ing relationships are needed with districts so that imple- mentation goes smoothly. “We’re continuing to evolve
[electric school buses] to you give you better range,” stated EV Product Segment Leader
Brad Beauchamp. Tom Hopkins, business development manager for
drivetrain manufacturer and longtime Blue Bird propane partner ROUSH CleanTech, reviewed the cost savings that buses running on safe, clean, domestically produced, affordable propane Autogas, produce compared to diesel. Stephen Whaley, eastern alternative fuels manager for
Blue Bird, reviewed the easy to implement and scalable propane infrastructure.
32 School Transportation News • JUNE 2025
RIDE RIDE sponsored the “School Bus V2X & Transit Planning” general session led by Bob Riebe, vice president of transit for Applied Informa- tion, Inc. He explained how Cellular V2X technology connects school buses with infrastructure, stop lights and other vehicles on the road for better
on-time performance, cost-sav- ings and school zone safety. Jason Yan, director of sales operations for RIDE,
shared before the session that all three of the compa- ny’s electric school buses—the Type A “Achiever,” Type C “Creator” and Type D “Dreamer”—currently come with the C-V2X function. RIDE’s first electric school bus equipped with this technology deployed in Oak- land, California and current operations include school transportation contractor Zum, the Antelope Valley Schools Transportation Agency in Lancaster, Califor- nia, and Los Olivos School District in Santa Barbara County, California.
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