(October 5, 2017) — School buses travel over four billion miles each year, providing the safest transportation to and from school for more than 25 million American children every day. However, diesel exhaust from these buses has a negative impact on human health, especially for children who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed.
Propane School Bus web

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a school bus rebate program that is designed to encourage school bus fleet turnover to reduce harmful emissions from older, dirtier diesel vehicles so more children can ride buses with the cleanest emissions standards or buses that have been retrofitted to reduce emissions. The 2017 School Bus Rebate Program will provide more than $7 million to public and private fleet owners for the replacement or retrofit of older school buses. Up to $1 million of the funding total will be available for retrofit funding requests in the selection process.

These EPA rebates offer an opportunity to receive up to $20,000 per vehicle to replace older school buses, and up to $6,000 per vehicle for retrofits. Those eligible for the rebates include regional, state, or tribal agencies including school districts and municipalities, or private entities that operate school buses under a contract with one of the above. The EPA rebate program has funded vehicle replacements or retrofits for over 600 vehicles to date.

Propane autogas school buses are included in the School Bus Rebate Program as a clean, alternative fuel choice that doesn’t expose children to the harmful particulate matter in diesel exhaust, which is known to aggravate asthma, and worse — it's a carcinogen identified by the World Health Organization.

According to the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), replacing a 2007 or older diesel school bus with a new propane autogas school bus reduces harmful NOx emissions more than 92 percent.

An informational webinar will be presented October 5, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. ET. If you would like to participate in the webinar visit http://epawebconferencing.acms.com/schoolbusrebate2017. The call-in number is 866-299-3188, and access code is 20 2343 9571.