Some changes to school buses in the Jordan District could save thousands of tax dollars every year, and even reduce traffic congestion.
Kindergartners board bus 102 for their ride home, and while they might not look impressed, you may be. These buses look the same, but 102 saves us $9-thousand every year.
Why? Two words.. Natural Gas.
Bus driver, Ron Bateman, says, "When it comes to the bottom line, you're saving big dollars there."
Savings on just one bus would buy the average driver's fuel for seven years. It would buy all textbooks for about nine elementary classes.
That's not all. Converting to natural gas buses helps keep the air clean. "That's the neat thing, it doesn't put out any pollutants at all," Bateman observes.
And you can really see it in that area. When put to the tailpipe test, the natural gas bus ran much cleaner. There was quite a difference.
Jordan District has also built a bus lot on the west side of the valley. Now drivers don't have to travel so far to park their buses. Ron Sing, of Jordan Transportation says, "Drivers are spending too much time on the road going from their routes back to the parking garage."
Every day, this simple measure saves 150 gallons of gas and 75 employee hours. Plus, with fewer buses, there will be more room for cars during the afternoon rush. "Our buses play a big part in that congestion, but now we're able to keep them off the road," Sing says.
The federal Energy Department is paying to convert the bus fleet to natural gas, so these savings really add up.