Propane bus endures winter testing

CHASKA, Minn. — School districts in Minnesota have been trying out Blue Bird’s Propane-Powered Vision bus this month to see how it handles the frigid weather.

The Star Tribune did an article last week on Eastern Carver County Schools’ turn with the bus.

The newspaper said that some pupil transporters in Minnesota remember when some school buses ran on propane in the 1970s and ’80s and often stalled during the harsh winters, but the new Blue Bird version “seem[s] to have conquered the problems with cold with improved technology.”

John Thomas, transportation coordinator for Eastern Carver County Schools, told the Star Tribune, "It started right away. It heats up beautifully. Right now, I'm pretty confident we'll be asking for these."

The district, which contracts its bus service with Positive Connections, said it may replace as many as 85 of the 120 buses that serve its students with propane models by next year.

Last week’s trial missed a period of below-zero temperatures in the area earlier in the month, but after leaving the Minneapolis-area district, the Propane-Powered Vision was headed up to a few districts in northern Minnesota, where it would likely face even colder testing.