LOS ANGELES — The second-largest school district in the country has placed a big order of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.

Los Angeles Unified School District purchased 71 Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses from Thomas Built Buses.

In 1994, LA Unified implemented a long-term replacement strategy to decrease its environmental impact and refresh its older fleet of buses. Through a $300,000 grant from the California Energy Commission, the district has been replacing many of its older buses with CNG units and updating its CNG infrastructure.

Today, LA Unified operates 1,300 school buses, including 475 CNG, 100 ultra-low emission, and 126 propane models. The district reportedly has the largest fleet of CNG-powered school buses in the U.S. and operates several CNG fueling stations.

“LA Unified has made great strides over the past few years by incorporating alternative-fueled vehicles into their fleet,” said Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses. “The addition of Thomas Built’s Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses paves the way for other school districts to deploy Type C CNG buses into their own fleets.”

The new Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG utilizes the Cummins Westport ISB6.7 G 6.7-liter natural gas engine and an Allison 2000 series transmission. It is California Air Resources Board (CARB)-certified, meets CARB’s optional low NOx standard of 0.1 g/bhp-hr., and meets Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2016 emissions and 2017 EPA greenhouse gas requirements, according to Thomas Built.