VW grants

Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) in Texas is purchasing 33 Autogas school buses to replace its aging diesel fleet. The new buses will be less expensive to operate, and will substantially cut emissions. GISD is expecting to have a quarter of its fleet powered by LPG by November.

The district will reportedly save $75,000 a year in fuel costs by converting part of its fleet to Autogas. The district will be using grant funding from different programmes under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). A total of $1.3 million will be used for the new buses.

Moreover, the TCEQ is currently accepting grant applications for cleaner school buses, shuttle buses and transit buses under the Texas Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Programme (TxVEMP) in Austin area, Beaumont-Port Arthur area, Dallas-Fort Worth area, El Paso, Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area and San Antonio area.

From the $209 million allocated to Texas for TxVEMP, TCEQ has allocated $58 million for its first grant round for buses. Entities operating buses 51% in a qualifying area replacing a model year 2009 diesel bus with new model year cleaner school bus may qualify for a Texas VW grant.

For this, the non-profit Propane Council of Texas is informing school districts, transits, and shuttle operators on cleaner-burning Autogas buses, and helping them apply for the grants by offering complimentary grant consultation and grant writing services for those that qualify for VW in Texas that want to switch to LPG. For more information, please visit this link.

5 June 2019