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American School Bus Council Encourages More Students to 'Go Green and Ride Yellow'

Posted on: Thursday, 9 April 2009, 13:51 CDT

School Bus Transportation Eliminates the Need for 17.3 Million Cars, 2.3 Billion Gallons of Fuel and $8 Billion in Fuel Costs

WASHINGTON, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Every day, more than 26 million children take the safest and most environmentally friendly way to get to school - the yellow school bus. As the nation gets ready to celebrate Earth Day 2009, the American School Bus Council (ASBC) is encouraging even more parents and their children to "Go Green and Ride Yellow."

According to industry estimates, the nation's school bus transportation system carries more than half of the country's children to school each day, saving an estimated 17.3 million cars from roads surrounding schools each morning. By reducing the number of cars on the road, the school bus transportation system is providing an estimated annual national savings of 2.3 billion gallons of fuel and $8 billion in gas costs.

"After working for years to make buses more environmentally friendly, we want to make sure our riders know how much of an impact they have on the environment by riding the yellow school bus," said Barry G. Stock, president of the National School Transportation Association and member of the ASBC. "An even bigger bonus for these students and their parents is that by taking the school bus, they are also taking what the U.S. government believes is the safest way to school."

To understand the impact that school buses have on individual communities, the ASBC has developed an online fuel calculator that enables individuals to accurately calculate the anticipated economic and environmental impact of local bus service. The calculator can be found on the ASBC Web site at www.americanschoolbuscouncil.com.

"While Earth Day is one day a year when communities come together to help the environment, school bus manufacturers and industry suppliers work year round to develop more fuel efficient models and reduce pollution," said Ken Hedgecock, vice president of sales, marketing and service for Thomas Built Buses and member of the ASBC. "In fact, model year 2007 school buses are 60 times cleaner than those built before 1990, and, as older buses are replaced with newer, cleaner burning ones, they will further reduce our pollution and fuel usage."

By encouraging more students to ride the bus to school, the ASBC hopes to continue to reduce the number of cars on the road, as well as reduce traffic congestion around school properties. School bus manufacturers are also making large investments in new diesel, natural-gas, liquid propane injection (LPI), electric hybrid and other engines to further reduce pollution. All newly constructed school buses must meet new smog restriction regulations by reducing soot and smog-causing emissions by 90 and 95 percent, respectively.

In addition, since 2003 school bus operators have retrofitted more than 12,000 school buses with emissions-reduction technology through the help of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus grants.

Other environmentally friendly statistics found by the ASBC:

• 17.3 million: Total number of private vehicles needed to transport students currently riding on all school buses.
• 822 million gallons per year: Total fuel used by school bus fleet
• $3.4 billion per year: Total cost of fuel used by the U.S. school bus fleet
• $131 per year: Cost of fuel per child transported by school bus
• 3.1 billion gallons per year: Total fuel for cars replaced by buses
• $11.4 billion per year: Cost of fuel for cars replaced by school buses
• 62.4 billion: Total annual car mileage saved by students riding school buses
• 346.6 million: Total daily car mileage saved by students riding school buses
• 36: Average number of cars needed to transport students currently riding one school bus

About the American School Bus Council

The American School Bus Council is a coalition of the school transportation industry -- including public and private transportation providers, school bus manufacturers and state officials responsible for pupil transportation. Council members are committed to providing safe, effective, efficient and healthy transportation for the more than 26 million schoolchildren who ride more than 480,000 school buses each day. In 2007, the Council began implementing the annual national Love the Bus campaign each February to raise awareness and appreciation for hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers nationwide who safely transport our nation's children to school each day.

The Council's members include NAPT (National Association for Pupil Transportation), NASDPTS (National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services), NSTA (National School Transportation Association), Blue Bird Corp. of Fort Valley, Ga., IC Corporation of Warrenville, Ill., and Thomas Built Buses of High Point, N.C.

The American School Bus Council was formed in 2006 to educate parents, school officials and lawmakers about the essential role the yellow school bus plays in the safety, health, security and readiness of America's schoolchildren. Council members advocate for increased school transportation funding and advances industry standards on safety, security, environment, energy and access to education that are above and beyond state and federal law.

For more information, visit our Web sites at www.americanschoolbuscouncil.org and www.lovethebus.com.

SOURCE American School Bus Council

Source: PR Newswire

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