Los Angeles Unified School District Purchases 71 Thomas Built CNG School Buses

Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the country, has purchased 71 Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses from Thomas Built Buses. With the purchase of these new buses, LA Unified becomes the latest in a growing number of districts incorporate Type C CNG school buses in its fleet.

In 1994, LA Unified implemented a long-term replacement strategy to decrease its environmental impact and refresh its older fleet of buses. Through a $300,000 grant from California Energy Commission (CEC), the district has been replacing many of its older buses with CNG units and updating its CNG infrastructure.

Today, LA Unified operates 1,300 school buses, more than half of which run on alternative fuel, which includes 475 CNG buses. The district has the largest fleet of CNG-powered school buses in the US and operates CNG fueling stations on San Julian Street, Gardena and one in Sun Valley.

“LA Unified has made great strides over the past few years by incorporating alternative fueled vehicles into their fleet,” said Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses. “The addition of Thomas Built’s Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses paves the way for other school districts to deploy Type C CNG buses into their own fleets.”

The new Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG features the Cummins Westport ISB6.7 G 6.7L natural gas engine and an Allison 2000 series transmission. It is CARB-certified, meets CARB’s optional low NOx standard of 0.1g/bhp-hr and meets EPA 2016 emissions and 2017 EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) requirements.