RIVERSIDE, Calif. July 6, 2006 - The Jurupa Unified School District has added three new mid-size CNG buses to its school bus fleet. These new buses will become part of the school district's 58 bus fleet, replacing three of its old buses which were built in 1978 and 1979.
The funding for these buses was made possible with Clean Transportation Funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC), which contributed $180,000 toward the purchase of the buses through its CNG School Bus Buydown Program. This program offers buy-down incentive funds of up to $60,000 per vehicle toward the purchase of clean compressed natural gas school buses to school districts and school transportation providers within the South Coast Air Quality Management District. A total of $2 million in incentive funding is available to purchase CNG school buses through this program during the current funding cycle. The goal of the incentive program, which has invested more than $10 million to date throughout the Southland, is to replace older, diesel or gasoline Type 1 school buses with new low-emission, original equipment manufacturer-dedicated CNG school buses.
Thanks to the Clean Transportation Funding, each bus cost a little more than $100,000. "We sought the MSRC funding to help the school district replace aging buses that were causing us mechanical problems and that were not as environmentally friendly as the new buses," said Al Regis, Director of Transportation for the Jurupa Unified School District. "The new buses are great! They are running well, and we have had no problems or mechanical issues." The district had previously purchased 11 CNG school buses with buy-down funding from the MSRC. Diesel-fueled school buses are particularly harmful to children because the exhaust exposes them to toxic diesel particulate matter. Children are more susceptible to the toxicity of the exhaust since their breathing rate is about twice that of adults and because children have a faster metabolism. It is estimated that a diesel school bus built in 1975 (close to the age of the buses replaced by the Jurupa School District) releases up to 100 times more particulate matter than a new bus powered by CNG. Diesel school bus emissions are also a source of smog forming pollutants. CNG buses can reduce these emissions by approximately one-third.
The funding for these buses was made possible with Clean Transportation Funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC), which contributed $180,000 toward the purchase of the buses through its CNG School Bus Buydown Program. This program offers buy-down incentive funds of up to $60,000 per vehicle toward the purchase of clean compressed natural gas school buses to school districts and school transportation providers within the South Coast Air Quality Management District. A total of $2 million in incentive funding is available to purchase CNG school buses through this program during the current funding cycle. The goal of the incentive program, which has invested more than $10 million to date throughout the Southland, is to replace older, diesel or gasoline Type 1 school buses with new low-emission, original equipment manufacturer-dedicated CNG school buses.
Thanks to the Clean Transportation Funding, each bus cost a little more than $100,000. "We sought the MSRC funding to help the school district replace aging buses that were causing us mechanical problems and that were not as environmentally friendly as the new buses," said Al Regis, Director of Transportation for the Jurupa Unified School District. "The new buses are great! They are running well, and we have had no problems or mechanical issues." The district had previously purchased 11 CNG school buses with buy-down funding from the MSRC. Diesel-fueled school buses are particularly harmful to children because the exhaust exposes them to toxic diesel particulate matter. Children are more susceptible to the toxicity of the exhaust since their breathing rate is about twice that of adults and because children have a faster metabolism. It is estimated that a diesel school bus built in 1975 (close to the age of the buses replaced by the Jurupa School District) releases up to 100 times more particulate matter than a new bus powered by CNG. Diesel school bus emissions are also a source of smog forming pollutants. CNG buses can reduce these emissions by approximately one-third.