The buses are still yellow, but they're going green with the help of compressed natural gas or CNG.
The Los Angeles Unified School District opened its second CNG fueling station on Monday to help serve its CNG school bus fleet, which consists of 172 buses, making it the largest CNG school bus fleet in California.
"By continually aiming to transition school bus and other heavy-duty diesel fleets to alternative fuel and low-emission vehicles, the district brings a positive and meaningful impact to the air quality for students, staff and the Los Angeles community," said Board Member Julie Korenstein. "We are proud to present what we hope is the second of many alternative fueling stations in the District."
The district's 1,300 school bus fleet is aging, with an average age of 19.4 years. About 60 percent are in need of replacement.
"As we replace our aging buses with new safe, energy-efficient, and lower-emission school buses, we will also continue to build infrastructures that support our greening efforts," said Transportation Branch Director Enrique Boull't.
In addition to CNG school buses, the district is pursuing cleaner, higher mile per gallon vehicles while moving away from its dependence on diesel fuel, including alternative fueled vehicles such as bio-diesel, propane and higher mileage hybrid vehicles.
