Madison buses in retrofit grant: EPA awards grant to 14 Wisconsin school districts; 300 school bus retrofits to include DOCs & CFS

Diesel Progress North American Edition, April, 2006

The Madison Metropolitan School District, along with 13 other Wisconsin school districts, was recently awarded $291,470 by the U.S. EPA to retrofit 300 school buses with emissions control technology. The grant comes as part of Clean School Bus USA, an EPA program targeted at reducing school bus emissions throughout the U.S.

"This Clean School Bus USA grant is part of EPA's effort to get rid of that all-too-familiar black puff of diesel smoke," said Tom Skinner, administrator of EPA Region 5. "The EPA is working toward a goal of every school bus in America being a 'clean bus.'"

The grant is just one of 37 grants totaling $7.5 million awarded by the EPA through the program. The three-pronged program, which also aims to reduce school bus idling and replace older school buses with newer models, will fund the procurement of the emissions reduction equipment for 300 schools buses with engine model years 1997 to 2004, anticipated to stay in a fleet for an additional five years. Five private bus companies--Badger Bus Lines, Durham School Services, First Student, Johnson School Bus Service and Rite-Way Leasing--will retrofit buses in their fleets through the funding.

Of the 300 school buses selected for retrofit, 253 will have a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) installed, replacing the existing muffler. Another 47 buses will be equipped with a crankcase filtration system (CFS) designed to eliminate emissions at the crankcase, which according to the EPA, provides a greater reduction of PM. EPA reported emissions reduction for the school buses equipped with the DOC device at 50% for HC, 40% for CO and 20% for PM. A supplier has not been selected for the emissions equipment.

Badger Bus Lines, one of the school bus companies to receive the grant money, will install DOCs on 24 of its Thomas and International school buses, which run Caterpillar and Cummins engines rated 210 to 230 hp. Johnson School Bus Service, another bus company to receive funding, has chosen to install CFS units on 47 of its Blue Bird, Thomas, IC Corp. and International school buses powered by Cat, International and Mercedes-Benz engines rated 195 to 230 hp.

All five bus companies involved in the retrofit program will perform all installation and maintenance of the emissions reduction equipment as funding only covers procurement. Retrofit is expected to be completed on all 300 buses within the next 12 months.

The other Wisconsin school districts to receive funding are Sun Prairie, Verona, Monona Grove, Wisconsin Heights, Deerfield, Dodgeville, Lodi, Monroe, Pecatonica Area Schools, River Valley, Campbellsport, North Fond du Lac and Fond du Lac.