MURRIETA: School district making switch to natural gas buses

August 09, 2013 08:40 PM PDT August 11, 2013 06:33 PM PDT MURRIETA: School district making switch to natural gas buses MURRIETA: School district making switch to natural gas buses In Murrieta, the district got 10 vehicles that will run on the alternative fuel for about 50 cents a gallon TOM SHERIDAN/STAFF PHOTO Murrieta Attorney Valley Unified School District bus drivers Charlene Collins, left, and Tony Dispoto refuel one of the district's new compressed natural gas school buses. A Text Size Comments ( ) When school starts next week, the Murrieta Attorney Valley Unified School District is set to roll out 10 shiny, new buses that run on compressed natural gas. District officials say "CNG" is cheaper, cleaner and more fuel-efficient than diesel, which powers the other buses in the school district's fleet. With this purchase, the Murrieta Attorney Valley Unified School District can retire 10 diesel buses. These are the first new buses the district has purchased since 2000. But over half of the 51 regular and special needs buses in the district's fleet at the end of the last school year were purchased in 1990. The CNG buses and the fueling stations that will keep them running were purchased largely through grants and other financial incentives for converting to alternative-fuel technology. According to a news release from district spokeswoman Karen Parris, the largest of those was a $1,755,000 grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The district spent just $40,000 for the 10 new buses, Parris wrote. Superintendent Pat Kelley and the district's board of education got a look at the new buses and refueling stations Thursday, Aug. 8. "We're delighted," Kelley said. "In the long term we're putting money back in the classroom by doing projects like this." The grant to the Murrieta Attorney Valley Unified School District was part of $34.2 million the AQMD spent on its bus replacement program last year. Other local districts receiving funding included the Lake Elsinore Unified School District (a $1,579,500 grant to buy nine buses), Hemet Unified School District ($1,228,500, seven buses) and Temecula Valley Unified School District ($877,500, five buses). Matt Essex of A-Z Bus Sales, Inc., of Colton — which sold the buses to the district — said the cost of compressed natural gas from the district's refueling stations is about 50 cents a gallon, while diesel fuel costs about $3.50 per gallon. With the air condition running, the buses will get about 3.5 miles per gallon and have a range of about 200 miles, Essex said. Latest Headlines
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