By DAWN BORMANN
The Kansas City Star

Fueling stations line the fence at the transportation department headquarters for the Kansas City, Kan., School District. The district’s 47 new alternative-fuel buses will begin running after spring break. Go to KansasCity.com for a video report.
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On Wednesday, the Kansas City, Kan., School District added 47 buses that run on compressed natural gas. It is the first school district in Kansas or Missouri to launch a large-scale fleet with the alternative fuel.

“These buses are greener, cleaner and use domestically sourced compressed natural gas rather than imported diesel fuel,” said Kelli Mather, the district’s chief financial officer.

The buses are expected to cut fuel costs by more than one-third and significantly reduce maintenance costs, district officials said.

As gas and diesel prices soar, the district made no small show of its undertaking. Police stopped traffic Wednesday morning as the buses paraded down State Avenue to the district’s transportation center, where a filling station has been constructed.

The compressed natural gas vehicles represent half of the district’s largest buses and will replace one third of its aging fleet.

The $7 million project was paid for in part by a $4 million Department of Energy stimulus grant. The district covered the remaining costs.

A federal tax credit will pay for 50 cents per gallon of natural gas used. Overall, the district expects to see a $1 per gallon cost savings in compressed natural gas versus diesel.

One of the biggest downfalls of compressed natural gas is the upfront expense and sparse filling stations.

George Taylor, the district’s transportation director, said the change would have been impossible without the federal grant to offset the upfront costs of buying the buses. The grant also paid the entire cost of building the filling station.

Kansas City Regional Clean Cities Coalition officials think the buses will displace 1 million to 2 million gallons of diesel fuel, depending on the years of service each bus provides. The district will also eliminate “150,000 pounds of greenhouse gases every year from the very places where our children live, learn and play,” said Kelly Gilbert, director of the coalition, which is an agency focused in part on increasing fleets with alternative fuels. The coalition is managed by the Metropolitan Energy Center.

Across the state line from the school district, the city of Kansas City has about 250 vehicles using the same alternative fuel. It has proved to be safe and save significant dollars in maintenance and fuel costs.

Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon said the program takes the city and county’s vision of building sustainable buildings and infrastructure — an effort announced several years ago — to the next level.

“We’re talking about improving the efficiency of something that happens every day in our community,” Reardon said, adding that the domestic fuel provides jobs for Americans.

District officials said the environmentally friendly aspect was a key decision for choosing compressed natural gas. Few like the idea of children breathing in diesel pollution on their way to and from school each day. But cost-savings weighed heavily in the decision.

Taylor spent four years researching alternative fuels as he looked to replace buses within the district. The district settled on compressed natural gas because it proved safe and was the cleanest commercially available fuel.

The buses can be filled each night using a slow-fill system. Once full, the buses can go about 400 miles. Given that filling stations aren’t widespread, the district can’t eliminate its dependence on diesel buses.

Although Kansas City, Kan., is the first school district in the area to invest so heavily in the buses, others are watching closely. On Wednesday, school officials from other districts, including the Parkway School District in Chesterfield, Mo., attended to learn more.

Will Rosa, transportation director for the Parkway district, said emission standards get tougher to meet each year and compressed natural gas appears to be a way to meet those standards and save money. But there are other considerations.

“We want to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, just like Kansas City,” Rosa said.

Taylor said that he expected schoolchildren and the neighbors of the transportation center to notice an immediate difference in fumes. Those stuck behind a bus in traffic also might notice the difference.

“You’re not going to be sucking up diesel fumes,” he said.

To reach Dawn Bormann, call 816-234-7704 or send e-mail to dbormann@kcstar.com.



Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/16/2730961/47-kck-school-buses-no...

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