ALMA, Ark. — The Alma School District is set to receive new electric school buses for the 2023-2024 school year.
The Advanced Bus and Clean Transportation (ADEQ) program awarded Alma Schools with a $3 million grant which will be used to purchase a total of eight electric school buses will be purchased.
The buses will be available to students by the fall and will be replacing the current ones. Alma Schools will be one of only a few districts in the state to introduce this electric bus transportation.
"This will be an exciting new benefit for our schools, providing a cleaner, quieter ride for our students while saving money for the district," says Jason Rutherford, Transportation Director.
Here is a list with information on the new buses:
- The expected delivery and use of these 8 buses will be in early August before the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
- Infrastructure planning has been in place for some time, and infrastructure construction/installation will begin soon.
- The buses will be a Thomas C2 Jouley. This is a conventional-style yellow bus, not the flat nose bus that we are used to seeing.
- Each bus will be air-conditioned, with plans for all future buses to be air-conditioned.
- The routes that the electric buses will be used are still being determined.
- Not only will there be less air pollution, but noise pollution will also be greatly decreased.
"The grant application process can be tedious. With over 6 months of hard work and dedication to this grant project, I really appreciate Mr. Rutherford's commitment," said Mr. Biggs, Assistant Superintendent of Operations & Support Services. Before the grant was awarded, the district originally had plans in place to purchase 4-6 diesel buses within the next four years. Those plans can now be put to the side. "It's really great because due to receiving this grant, the money that was originally allocated for those 4-6 diesel buses can now be used toward other educational purposes that will further benefit our students," Mr. Biggs said.
OG&E is a partner in this project and will be handling the construction that is required to support the electric charging stations at the bus garage.
When fully charged, Alma Schools says the electric buses can travel up to 138 miles a day which should be more than enough since the longest bus route in the district is about 77 miles.
For more information, click here.
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