You, the taxpayer, are the owner of a new $160,000 hybrid yellow school bus, the first “green” school bus in Virginia and one of only 12 in the country.
LCPS purchased the hybrid school bus, LCPS Bus #777, which arrived earlier in January and will be used to transport Loudoun students to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The only mark on the bus that distinguishes it as being green is the logo C2 e Hybrid on the rear of the vehicle. Otherwise, it looks like any other new yellow school bus and has a similar conventional capacity of 77 elementary students or 44 adults.
The Thomas Built bus cost about $60,000 more than the traditional yellow school bus, uses about 30 percent less fuel and gets 11 miles to the gallon as opposed to eight miles for a conventional school bus. LCPS purchased the bus from Sonny Merryman Inc. of Lynchburg, Virginia.
The bus runs on hybrid technology, using an electric motor which runs the bus up to a speed of 25 mph, at which point the standard diesel engine takes over. The technology is similar to that of the Ford Escape hybrid. When the driver eases off the accelerator, the hybrid’s electric cell generates it own electricity, so energy is not lost out the tailpipe, but instead harnessed by an electric motor which charges the battery, according to the LCPS announcement. Also, should the electric motor fail, the bus would then revert to the diesel engine, assuring the bus and passengers are not stranded because of an electrical malfunction.
“There is no competitive alternative in the hybrid field to the Thomas,” said LCPS Fleet Services Manager Josh Lunsford of the system’s new bus.
Al Hampton, director of LCPS transportation, explained the bus “has all the same safety features as any other school bus, which is the safest mode of land transportation that there is.” Hampton said LCPS will conduct a field test of the bus to gauge mileage and make other assessments to determine whether purchases of additional hybrid buses is warranted.
Who approved this boondoggle? Can someone compute how long it takes to pay off the extra $60,000 cost by getting an extra 3 miles to the gallon? Whoever approved this purchase should be fired for wasting taxpayer money.