Putting cleaner buses on the road isn’t always easy. There are a number grants for diesel retrofits and bus replacement, but accessing these funds often means contending with grant applications and finding partners willing to match state or federal dollars. Fortunately, a number of organizations and businesses want to lighten the load.

Go Green, Go Online
For school districts in Massachusetts, funding diesel retrofits may get easier in 2008. Early this year, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDep) is launching an online application that will dole out $16 million to install diesel retrofit technology on as many as 6,000 school buses over the next three years. Bus owners will be able to log on to a new Web site, enter their vehicle identification numbers, engine year and model, vehicle make and location. Nearly a dozen pre-approved diesel retrofit vendors will use this information to offer owners a bid for the projects. The owners and their chosen vendors then come together to perform pre-installations — the critical vehicle and route analysis that assures the right technology will be installed. If they can reach an agreement and install the units within one year, MassDep will directly reimburse the vendors for the full cost of parts and labor.

The program is part of the commonwealth’s $22.5 million plan to retrofit 8,400 school buses and transit buses. If all goes as planned, nearly two-thirds of the 9,000 school buses in use statewide may receive pollution controls free-of-charge. Deb Lockett, a MassDep program coordinator, noted this is all the more important due to the fact that, after 2010, all pre-2007 models may be required to have these devices.

The program is not without its limitations. The funding only supports diesel retrofits, and owners must pair either diesel particulate filters or diesel oxidation catalysts with closed crankcase ventilation. They also must agree to keep vehicles on the road for at least three years. While all Massachusetts school bus owners are invited to apply for the program, public schools and contractors serving public schools will get priority over private schools and companies serving private schools.

Alternative Solutions
But diesel retrofits aren’t the only way to switch to cleaner school buses. Stephe Yborra is the director of marketing and communications for Natural Gas Vehicles for America, a non-profit that promotes vehicles powered by natural gas and hydrogen. He has been reminding bus owners that in some cases they may be able to use state and federal money to replace older diesel buses with alternative fuel-powered school buses, including natural gas vehicles.

Yborra has used conferences, Web casts and magazine articles to let bus owners know about tax credits for natural gas vehicle and fuel purchases, state air quality grants, Department of Energy Clean Cities grants and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus USA program.

While the 2008 budget for Clean School Bus USA had yet to be approved by Congress, Yborra notes a new guideline establishes 50 percent reimbursement for the purchase of vehicles that meet the cleanest standards and 25 percent for other vehicles. This means considerable rebates for natural gas-powered school buses, including Blue Bird’s All American RE and Thomas Built’s Saf-T-Liner HD that already meet the 2010 emissions standards.

These vehicles cost more initially and may require an additional up-front investment in a filling station. But, Yborra points out that these grant sources combined with a decreasing life-cycle costs may make natural gas a solution for some school districts.

No Grants Required
Some ways of making fleets cleaner don’t necessarily require new purchases or grants. Voluntary idle-reduction programs inexpensive to implement, but they also can save money by reducing fuel consumption. Webasto, a manufacturer of school bus heaters, estimates schools spend $200 million worth of fuel while idling.

Through its Clean School Bus USA Web site, the EPA offers a “do-it-yourself” kit with everything schools need to teach children, drivers and other staff how to reduce idling. While not dedicated specifically to school buses, Webasto has made information on anti-idling even more readily available by launching their Lowering Emissions and Particulates Web site. In addition to information on the benefits of idle reduction and how best to reduce idling, the site includes an application that lets users find anti-idling laws in their state.

Reprinted from the January 2008 issue of School Transportation News magazine. All rights reserved.