LONG BEACH, Calif. — School bus fans should know well the green story told by Twin Rivers Unified School District in Sacramento, California.
For years, the district boasted the most electric school buses in use across North America, while also operating CNG and renewable diesel buses.
The entire Advanced Clean Transportation world was tuned in Tuesday morning during the ACT Expo Fleet Awards presented by Tucker Perkins, CEO of the Propane Education & Research Council.
Twin Rivers was honored for being a “Leading School Fleet” for transportation sustainability, alongside the County of Sacramento, the Orange County Transportation Authority and SSA Marine. Accepting for the school district was Raymond Manalo, the manager of vehicle maintenance for the 147-bus fleet.
He said 10 electric school buses are on order and will soon join the 47 already in operation. Twin Rivers first adopted EVs six years ago.
The district also continues to use 30 CNG buses, but Manalo added that Twin Rivers does not plan to buy more going forward. Instead, the district is using drop-in renewable diesel throughout the rest of the fleet because California classifies it as an alternative fuel. Renewable diesel is not biodiesel and is defined by the California Air Resources Board as “produced from nonpetroleum renewable resources.”
In a case study published last year by renewable fuel refiner Neste, Tim Shannon, director of transportation for Twin Rivers, called the switch from fossil to renewable diesel “probably one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever had to make.”
Related: (STN Podcast E92) Conversations at STN EXPO Reno: Twin Rivers USD’s Electric School Bus Journey
Related: Maintenance Experts Talk Green School Bus Training Needs at Summit
Related: The 5G Reveal: Do I Need This Technology Now for Student Transportation?
