Temple Independent School District, located in between Dallas and Austin, purchased eight new diesel school buses with funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), to help reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions throughout the district and community.
Amy Scopac, the assistant director of transportation for Temple ISD, said the new school buses will help reduce the potential exposure of NOx emissions to their students. Scopac said the older buses had a NOx emission of around 5.0 and the replacement buses have a NOx emission of around 0.2.
With the $728,000 grant and a $50,000 district cost-share, Temple ISD replaced school buses ranging from 1993 to 2000 model years with eight 77-passenger diesel IC Bus CE models.
“The reduction of NOx emissions, while also reducing the potential of exposure to our students will reduce potential exposure to our community,” Scopac said. “Reducing pollutants helps improve the overall air quality in our area. We are certainly excited to be doing our part to help reduce these pollutants in our community.”
Currently, Temple ISD has 93 buses in its fleet, with 71 being diesel and 22 gasoline. Scopac said the grant replacement options were diesel, propane or electric, and diesel was the only feasible choice for her district. She added the district is not ready for electric or propane options at this time.
“We also prefer to have a standardized fleet, so the continuity of the same brand, same fuel type is certainly preferred by our technicians,” Scopac explained.
The buses were all delivered earlier this week and are already servicing regular home to school routes, as well as field trips and extra-curricular activities.
She added that the TECQ grant funded 7.5 new buses, with the district’s cost-share completing the purchase of the 8th bus.
“We certainly didn’t want to leave any money on the table,” Scopac said.
The TCEQ grants were awarded based on a first-come, first-served basis, and Scopac said she made sure Temple ISD was one of the first districts to apply. She added that it ended up being third in line and was awarded the entire allotment for Bell County.
The TCEQ is disseminating the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Funds throughout Texas with goals to improve air quality. Its primary goals were to reduce NOx emissions and reduce the potential for exposure of the public to pollutants.
