Several school districts in California have grounded CNG school buses because the in-vehicle fuel tanks have reached their 15-year lifespan, and the districts are awaiting grant funds to replace them.
Ralph Knight, director of transportation at Napa Valley Unified School District, located north of San Francisco, said his district has grounded seven buses, two of which are equipped with wheelchairs. Meanwhile, Mike Rea, executive director of the West County Transportation Agency in Santa Rosa, located about 55 miles south of San Francisco, said his fleet consists of 22 buses that qualify for tank replacement grants that were just opened last month by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). Of those 22 buses, Rea noted that more than half have already been taken out of service because of the expired tanks.
“We all knew sooner or later these tanks would need to be replaced,” added Knight. “But 15 years came really fast. Now we’re seeing the first (fleets) hit with it.”
Since 2000, the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Lower-Emission School Bus Program has made more than $100 million available to air quality districts to help school districts purchase new school buses, including CNG, that meet strict emissions regulations and to retrofit older diesel buses. The California Department of Transportation also requires that the CNG fuel tanks be visually inspected every three years or 36,000 miles and be replaced at the end of their service life, or 15 years. These tanks cost approximately $20,000 each to replace.
But Lower-Emission School Bus Program funds made available through Proposition 1B funds approved by voters in 2008 are not available for these replacements. Instead, CARB recommends that school districts work directly with their local air districts for money derived from motor vehicle registration surcharges. Knight said other air districts such as the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the latter which passed a rule in 2001 requiring all new school bus purchases be CNG, have already made such funds available.
Among the last to the trough for this replacement money are school districts like Napa Valley that are governed by the BAAQMD. In May, the air district made grant applications available to local schools for CNG buses that are at least 14 years old but not more than 16 years old. Still, that came a little late for at least a couple of districts.
Complicating matters, Knight, who will moderate a panel on alternative fuels next month at the 19th Annual STN EXPO Conference, said that the BAAQMD, up until recently, required photos of the fuel tank certification labels and VINs be submitted for each bus affected, which was problematic because the labels are often not in visible or easily accessible areas.
“We were going to have to (un-install) the (tanks) to get pictures,” Knight said. “My (technicians) are not certified to do this.”
Knight explained that such work requires clearance from the school bus manufacturer and should be performed by an authorized dealer. The Bay Area district has since backed off that requirement.
Meanwhile, Blue Bird dealer A-Z Bus Sales, Inc., is among dealers working toward filling new CNG tank orders. Rick Eckert, general manager at A-Z Bus Sales’ Colton, Calif., office, said CARB pushed the BAAQMD to initiate the grant applications after an agency representative heard that some districts were spending $200,000 to $300,000 of their own money to install new tanks in school buses during a session at the California Association of School Transportation Officials conference this past spring.
