Los Angeles district contracts alt. fuel buses for special-ed students

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education awarded a contract for 140 new alternative fuel buses for the 2009-10 school year. The buses, which will serve primarily special-education students, will be fueled with ultra-low emission vehicle gasoline and propane.

In 2003, the LAUSD Board of Education adopted the Healthy Breathing Initiative. The initiative’s goals include protecting children’s health, reducing the district’s carbon footprint and ensuring environmental stewardship. As part of this initiative, the district would only accept bids to purchase or to contract buses fueled by alternative fuels or green diesel school buses that meet strict emission standards set by the Southern California Air Quality Management District.

In addition, LAUSD has added Student Transportation of America (STA) to its pool of school bus service providers. “The addition of STA to the Transportation Branch fleet allows the district to further its goal in vendor diversification,” said Business Manager Michael Eugene.

LAUSD provides home-to-school transportation for special district programs including student integration, special education and other transportation services. This amounts to the transportation of more than 59,000 students each day and 2,000 bus routes during a traditional school year.

The LAUSD Transportation Branch operates the largest compressed natural gas (CNG) school bus fleet in California, with more than 172 CNG buses.