Kings Canyon Unified School District in Reedley rolls out clean air buses

REEDLEY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Kings Canyon Unified School District recently acquired some new buses. Sure they may be yellow, but these buses are different - they do not run on diesel fuel, instead, they are powered by natural gas.

"It is clean air for our students and our community as they ride the bus, as they walk to school," said Jason Flores Kings Canyon Unified School District Transportation Director.

By the end of January, the School District will replace 16 of their diesel buses, bringing their clean air bus total to 33.

"The other buses that we have are diesel buses that give out a little bit more of pollutants, soot in the air and more particulate matter," said Flores.

The replacement is part of an effort by the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board to reduce air pollution. The $3-million dollar project was funded by Measure C, the school district, the Fresno Conference of Governments and the Air Resources Board.

Flores said this is not the first time the school district has made environmentally friendly changes - four years ago they acquired electric buses.

"We are one of the only ones in the world to receive these four electric school buses and we run those locally here in the City of Reedley," said Flores.

The new buses are also fuel efficient and require less maintenance but that is not the only thing that sets them apart from others.

"This is a 78 passenger school bus," said Flores. "They have three lap-shoulder seat belt restraints. It has integrated seating for our special needs kids."

The new buses are already on the road, as for the old buses, Flores said they will be crushed and dismantled.