Published: August 12, 2008 06:06 pm            

County bus fleet poised for 2008-09 school year

In the 2007-08 school year, Fayette County bus drivers transported public school students about 1.7 million miles on 72 regular routes.

They will see similar figures this year, but transportation director David Seay says the plan is for them to accomplish their tasks a little more economically.

With higher fuel costs of the past couple of years, school systems have had to begin watching more closely their consumption.

“A big topic at the transportation conference this summer was reducing use,” Seay said.

He said a main thrust in the coming months will be to ask drivers to refrain “from idling too much.”

In the past, idling an engine helped get it warmed up and ready to run, but Seay says newer designs make that not as necessary. “Now it wears the engine out more if you idle.”

Seay says that, while plans don’t currently call for banning extra-curricular trips, administrators are being asked to think about fuel prices when considering those excursions.

“We want to make sure they’re taking educational trips and not just reward/fun trips,” he said. “We will just ask the principals to review and think about what you’re asking for.”



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About a year ago, Fayette joined a growing list of counties statewide utilizing at least some biodiesel fuel to power the system’s buses. Seay says a biodiesel tank located in Fayetteville helps provide fuel for about 15 buses, and the board of education has approved the purchase of two additional tanks (one in Oak Hill and one in Victor).

“By the end of the year, we’ll have between 45 and 50 buses using biodiesel,” he said.

Biodiesel is a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel consisting of short chain (methyl or ethyl) esters, made by transesterification of vegetable oil, which can be used either alone or blended with conventional petrodiesel, according to www.wikipedia.org.

Seay also says the biodiesel, although still not possessing a pleasant smell, is more agreeable to one’s sense of smell.

“It is noticeably different in smell,” he said. “It’s not as obnoxious as pure diesel.

“And the buses ran fine.”

Fayette purchases its biodiesel from Adkins Fuel in Summersville, which delivers fuel for storage in a 5,000-gallon tank. Biodiesel costs slightly more on the gallon, but in the long run the county will be reimbursed at a higher percentage for biodiesel than regular diesel.

No major make-overs were necessary to prepare the buses to utilize biodiesel fuel. “We just do more preventive maintenance, like change the fuel filters more often,” Seay said.

Fayette is reimbursed 95 percent for the biodiesel it uses and 90 percent for all other expenses because of its rural nature, Seay said, but it takes a two-year cycle to be reimbursed. “So we have to come up with the money for the increase in fuel upfront and wait on the state to reimburse us,” he noted.

The state funds 100 percent of bus purchases, says Seay, and Fayette tries to put six or seven new buses on the road each year. Elementary buses are 77-passenger vehicles, and high school buses carry 51.

The normal bus is counted on for 10 years of service on a regular route and another 2-3 years as a backup.

“Our fleet is in pretty good shape,” Seay said.



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New this year, buses operating out of the Midland Trail Bus Center — Ansted Middle, Ansted Elementary, Divide Elementary, Midland Trail High and Nuttall (if it is reopened by the state) — will start at the same time in the morning and release at close to the same time in the afternoon in order to reduce miles, save fuel and be more efficient, Seay said. That means all students K-12 will ride the same bus.

“Numbers-wise, we can do it,” Seay said. He added that he feels it will make it more convenient for parents who have children at different grade levels. Also, he says he doesn’t feel there are major concerns placing the younger children with the older ones. “The older kids protect the younger kids.”



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According to The Charleston Gazette, West Virginia’s first biodiesel manufacturer is helping supply several West Virginia county school systems with the renewable fuel for their school buses, Gov. Joe Manchin announced.

Nitro-based AC&S, a chemical manufacturer that began operations in 1986, started making biodiesel this year and can produce up to 3 million gallons a year.

AC&S’s biodiesel is sold to several petroleum distributors, who in turn blend the biodiesel with traditional diesel fuel. The blend is then sold for use in school buses in Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Roane, Wirt, Calhoun, Clay and Boone counties.

Manchin says 25 West Virginia counties currently use biodiesel-blended fuel in 1,795 of their buses.

“It is very exciting to me that a renewable fuel produced right here in West Virginia is powering our school buses, offering a cleaner, greener experience to many of our state's school children,” the governor said in a news release.

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