Corpin and Gregory Salois, former director of transportation, display the Large Public Fleet award for winner Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.
won the award for Pri- vate Fleet and has nearly 400 electric buses
in its fleet, as it strives for 30,000 by 2035. “It’s always hard to say that any- thing about charging infrastructure is straightforward or easy. However, with appropriate teamwork, coordi- nation and stakeholder outreach, you can identify these needs in advance and help streamline and avoid any unnecessary repeat of work,” he shared. Kelly Rhodunda, transportation
director at Upper Moreland School District in Pennsylva- nia, accepted the award for the Rural District Under 50 Buses Cat- egory. The district is currently running 41 pro-
pane buses out of a
total fleet of 59. She spoke
highly of the flexibility of local Kelly
Rhodunda accepted Rural Fleet Under 50 Buses award recognizing Upper Moreland School District in Pennsylvania.
fuel supplier Rhoads Energy during construction delays, as the district was expanding the bus yard while also installing propane infrastructure. “Our buses were delivered prior to the completion of the infrastructure,” Rhodunda said. “Since we did not yet have access to fuel, Rhoads Energy provided wet fueling with a bobtail truck each day until our infrastructure was completed.” She continued, “I do feel as though we were properly equipped before im-
24 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2023
Innovation Choice Awards
Also, during STN EXPO in Reno, Nevada, attendees were given the opportunity to vote on their favorite, hardware, software, green bus technol- ogy and safety technology. Read more about the awards and the winning technologies at
stnonline.com/go/h2.
• Best Hardware: Transfinder Tablets
• Best Software: Transfinder, Routefinder PLUS
• Best Green Bus Technology: BYD “Achiever” Type A school bus
• Best Safety Technology: Zonar Systems Zonar Inspection Builder
plementation mainly because of the dedication of the vendors to ensure we would be successful.” Mikelski echoed Rhodunda’s
comments by expressing apprecia- tion for AmeriGas, which provided a temporary propane set-up because the district received its buses a year before final infrastructure was com- plete. She added that all aspects of installation went smoothly and that “training was provided and assis- tance was always given if we called.” Suffolk Transportation also encoun-
tered a unique situation when last year it had to replace electric infrastructure installed in 2018. While a company representative expressed surprise at needing the upgrade so soon, building good relationships with charging pro- vider Nuvve helped with the learning curve of updating the new technology and buses as well as making sure they have the power/charger requirements to support a fleet of its size.
Training Pennsylvania’s Rhodunda said a
variety of training options were pro- vided by Blue Bird, Roush CleanTech and Rhoads Energy for mechan- ics, drivers and administration. “All three [companies] set up training with local emergency responders to
educate them on how our buses operate, their safety fea- tures and how to appropriately respond in an emergency such as a fire,” she said. “In addition, videos and online training were provided to supplement. Information and training was also shared with our community to engage them in our project and to gain an understanding of the operation to remove any stigma about propane.” Meanwhile, in Indiana Treesh explained that fueling
provider Propane People Inc. trained the garage staff and first couple rounds of bus drivers on proper fueling processes and on propane safety. DeKalb Central now trains staff in-house. Both First Student and Suffolk commented on the in-
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