Alabama’s largest school district opts for autogas buses

Mobile County Public School’s Transportation Director Pat Mitchell announces that the school system added 30 propane autogas buses to its fleet.

The largest school district in Alabama is using 30 Blue Bird Propane-Powered Vision school buses equipped with Roush CleanTech autogas fuel systems for the 2014-15 school year, which began Aug. 7.

The Mobile County Public School System transports 26,000 students to and from school every day. It chose the propane-powered school buses to support its community outreach campaign, “It Starts With Us.”

“The deployment of our propane autogas bus fleet is a perfect example of our school system’s initiative, ‘It Starts With Us,’” said Pat Mitchell, director of transportation for Mobile County Public Schools. “We are providing dependable and clean student transportation while saving taxpayers money so we can put it back in the classroom where it counts most.”

Each bus is designed to displace about 40,000 gallons of diesel and emit 150,000 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Mobile County Public School System’s transportation department opted for propane autogas fueled buses after conducting an evaluation that included safety research, cost savings analysis, site visits to school systems that operate buses with propane autogas, and phone interviews with transportation directors. The school system will monitor the efficiency of the propane-powered buses and share information with other school systems interested in using alternative fuels.