Natural Gas lowers' school district costs

Schools hoping to put more money in the classroom should consider the low cost fuel alternative: Natural gas.

With 136 diesel and 26 compressed natural gas buses, Elk Grove Unified is seeking other ways to trim fleet costs.

Starting in the fall, the district will begin charging many of its students to ride the bus - one of the last districts in the Sacramento region to do so. Officials already altered school start times to allow bus drivers to handle more than one route. And since 1992 Elk Grove Unified has purchased only buses that run on natural gas.

"We've tried to keep current with having the most fuel-efficient buses and cost-effective buses," board member Priscilla Cox said. "But there's a lot of areas in transportation where there isn't any way of saving."

The natural gas vehicles save money in several ways. They cost more to buy - about $135,000 per bus vs. the roughly $110,000 for a diesel-run vehicle - but the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Control District offsets the cost with grant money for natural gas equipment.

Other districts also have benefited from clean air grants. Roseville Joint Union High recently qualified for a Clean Air for Kids grant that will enable a retrofit of 17 buses with particulate traps.

Then there's the price of fueling up. Diesel was $1.97 a gallon this week. Natural gas sells for $1.11 a gallon.

Of course, to keep those prices low, California needs to build a few LNG terminals to make sure we have a way to get the fuel to our State!