EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — It's another day at the pump for East Stroudsburg Area School District bus driver, Crystal Hamilton.
But, unlike paying more than $5 a gallon for diesel, she's fueling up for under $1 a gallon with liquid propane.
"We're currently paying only 70.9 or 71 cents per gallon for our buses," said Eric Forsyth, the Administrative Director for East Stroudsburg Area School District.
The district switched over from diesel to liquid propane back in 2020 after securing a federal grant, and now they're reaping the benefits saving thousands of dollars.
School officials say they're able to purchase all of the fuel they need in a year for less than $270,000.
"Our current bus fleet contains 124 units," Forsyth said. We can put anywhere between 350 to 400 thousand gallons of fuel into our buses in a year. So when we were operating with diesel we got slightly better fuel economy but the cost of the fuel was much more."
Driving your kids to school on one of these propane-fueled buses will save taxpayers over $1 million this school year.
Patrick Schantzen is the head mechanic at East Stroudsburg Area School District.
He says the transition has made maintenance much easier.
"The efficiency is so much better because fuel is so much cheaper and it starts better in the cold weather. We don't have to add any additives to the fuel or plug them in overnight to keep them warm so they'll start in the morning," said Schantzen.
And school officials say the grant money from the federal government actually drops the price per gallon even lower.
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