admin@roushcleantech

New Case Studies: Maintenance and Leander ISD

We’ve recently developed two new case studies. One explores propane school bus maintenance benefits. The other is an informative testimonial from Leander Independent School District about its 10-year experience with propane buses. Download them and share with customers to further show the differentiators of propane buses.

Here’s a quick overview of the case studies along with downloadable PDFs and a link to the ROUSH CleanTech website.

Propane School Buses Reduce Transportation Department Maintenance Costs

Faced with the challenge of maintaining buses within strict budgets, school district transportation departments across the United States look to cost-saving fleet alternatives. As district transportation departments across the nation work within tight budgets, many turn to buses operating on alternative fuels. School buses fueled by propane autogas have an incremental cost of about $8,000 more than diesel. Testimonials from four school district transportation directors demonstrate that this incremental cost is quickly recouped through lower maintenance expenses.

Download Maintenance case study PDF here, or visit https://roushcleantprd.wpengine.com/downloads/.

Texas School District Operates Propane School Buses for Over a Decade

Over the past 10 years, Leander ISD integrated propane school buses into its fleet to its current number of 117. About 30 percent of the total fleet runs on propane autogas, with a plan to convert to 60 percent in the next five years. The school district’s 24 newest Blue Bird Vision Propane buses are equipped with ROUSH CleanTech’s ultra-low NOx engines.

Download Leander ISD case study PDF here, or visit https://roushcleantprd.wpengine.com/downloads/.

COMING SOON! A brand-new case study on the total cost of ownership advantage for propane school buses.

Volkswagen Update: September 2018

Half of the states have now finalized their beneficiary mitigation plans, and we expect the other half to fall into that category by years end. More important, eight states have already published and closed funding opportunities and another five states are seeking applicants for open opportunities. These 13 funding opportunities represent nearly $167 million, with $68 million of that total carved out exclusively for school bus replacement.

There is definitely an emerging trend of school bus funding opening up before many of the other on- or off-road categories tagged for funding. So, the race to win as much cash as possible towards school bus replacement is officially on. Since the open period to apply is generally 30 days, there isn’t much time to get in front of customers to help maximize the number of buses they are applying for.  If possible, plan ahead and have a strategy in place for when funding opens up in your state. And don’t forget to connect with the ROUSH and Blue Bird teams. We are working diligently to enhance the tools and resources available to help your sales teams and customers.

As of September 2018:

Twenty-seven states have final plans:

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah,  Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming

Eighteen states have draft plans:

Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington

Seven states are still developing their plans and are accepting comments:

Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and West Virginia

Please contact Chelsea Jenkins at Chelsea.Jenkins@roush.com to discuss how best to approach and plan for the next phase of VW Settlement (and other funding) opportunities in your state.

Visit www.roushcleantech.com/volkswagen-settlement for more information.

Proactive Outreach for VW Funding

It’s been a few years since we first heard about the Volkswagen Settlement. We’ve been patiently waiting for each of our states’ Environmental Mitigation Trust plans to be finalized to then actually have the opportunity to apply for possible funding. Once state beneficiaries include propane school buses in its plans, and the plans are approved, you must be ready to act.

That’s what happened in Ohio. When the state’s EMT program opened, they gave applicants 30 days to act. This was a short period for Tony Rumer at Cardinal Bus Sales to pull together his sales team and brief them on the funding.

To help his efforts, Tony contacted ROUSH CleanTech and Blue Bird. Together, we created easy-to-use worksheets so that district representatives could simply fill in basic information to apply for the money.

The Cardinal Bus sales team then met with as many school district contacts as possible. The team wanted to make sure that its existing Blue Bird customers were applying for this funding.

To date, this has been the strongest strategy to take advantage of EMT funds.

Because of these efforts, five school districts have applied for the VW funds for propane vehicles in Ohio.

If you’d like help with encouraging your customers to apply for funding, contact Kuba Szczypiorski (Kuba.Szczypiorski@blue-bird.com) or Chelsea Jenkins (Chelsea.Jenkins@roush.com).

Dealer Spotlight: Canyon State Bus Sales

Dealer: Canyon State Bus Sales

Interviewee: Frank Villani

Title: New Bus Sales – Northern Arizona

Propane steals the show. At least, that’s what happened for Canyon State Bus Sales.

Dealer sales rep Frank Villani has been trying to win over Arizona’s Flagstaff Unified District, an IC Bus diesel bus customer, for many years without success. That was until Frank presented the Blue Bird propane model to district representatives.

The district reps had to make some comparisons to complete due diligence. First, they demoed the IC propane product. That’s when they found that the IC bus didn’t perform the way they had expected in this mountainous region.

Then, the district reps demoed the Blue Bird Vision Propane. They were wowed by its performance and its ability to navigate the challenging terrain of the school district. In fact, they were so impressed that they purchased two units.

Congratulations, Frank and Canyon State Bus Sales! You’ve accomplished a huge conquest with perseverance and a solid propane product.