LAUSD takes a proactive stance on showing fiscal and environmental stewardship. With this in mind, the District has made an ongoing effort to procure cleaner burning buses at a minimal cost.  Special thanks to you, the voters, for supporting Measures Y and Q.  Your vote has helped us replace older diesel buses with cleaner burning alternative fuel buses.

Through several grant awards from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), LAUSD has been able to leverage bond and grant dollars to replace more than 70% of its diesel engine school buses with cleaner emission vehicles such as propane and compressed natural gas (CNG).
Please read the details of current and upcoming Branch initiatives below. 

CNG School Bus Fleet
With 600 CNG school buses, the Branch operates the largest compressed natural gas school bus fleet in California. Natural gas buses produce less urban pollution and greenhouse gases than diesel buses, and, because we have a huge natural gas resource base right here in America, natural gas buses help reduce our dependence on foreign oil while providing lower fuel costs.

Propane and ULEV Gasoline School Bus Fleets
LAUSD also operates alternative-fuel buses powered with gasoline and propane.  The District has in its fleet, 100 ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV) gasoline and 268 propane-powered school buses. Although propane school buses are a newer fuel type for LAUSD, it has been extensively utilized for public transit and school bus operations nationally. Propane is the second most used fuel in commercial vehicles, behind diesel fuel. Propane fuel is also the cleanest burning fuel when compared with diesel and CNG.

CNG Fueling Stations
The Branch is proud to announce the upgrade of LAUSD’s second Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station, located in Sun Valley. The fueling station currently supports 158 CNG school buses. Additionally, the Branch also operates a CNG fueling facility in Downtown Los Angeles at the San Julian Garage capable of supporting more than 100 CNG school buses.  Since San Julian is located centrally in Los Angeles, the CNG infrastructure provides much needed fueling support for the CNG vehicles operating in the area.

LAUSD’s largest fueling station was established in 2001 and currently supports 310 CNG buses in the South Bay area.

Bio-diesel Fuel
Bio-diesel fuel is a cleaner burning alternative fuel produced from domestic, renewable resources, such as vegetable oils and animal fats. All remaining school buses with diesel engines operate on low-sulfur bio-diesel fuel. Compared to diesel, the use of bio-diesel creates a considerable reduction in particulate matter (PM) and Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, these buses are equipped with special exhaust traps/filters that further reduce pollutants. The introduction of a bio-diesel fuel blend into the District's fleet provides a unique opportunity to leverage green technology that requires limited capital investment. Thus far, the conversion to bio-diesel has had a minimal impact on operations.