Lucia Mar Unified School District (LMUSD) Lucia Mar Unified is a large school district in southern San Luis Obispo County. It serves approximately 11,000 students residing within a 550 square mile area. What alternative fuel vehicle(s) (AFVs) do you own and operate? The district currently operates 2 LPG powered school buses, 2 LPG powered vans and 3 Think Neighbor electric cars. We also have 27 buses that have been retrofitted with particulate traps and use ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.

What is/are your AVF(s) generally used for?
The 2 LPG buses and the 27 buses using ultra low sulfur diesel fuel are used daily to transport students to and from school. The LPG vans are used by two of our high schools to transport sports teams, debate teams and various other groups to activities within the southern California area. The Neighbor electric vehicles are used at our larger schools by custodians, principals and others needing to get around the campus quickly

When and where did you purchase your AFV(s)? Did you receive any grants or funding to help with the purchase?
The District received grant funding from various sources to assist in purchasing all of our alternative fuel vehicles. The two LPG powered school buses were purchased from A-Z Bus Sales and were almost completely funded by grants. Cleans Fuels USA assists us by providing a fueling station for the buses and vans which was upgraded with grant funding. We also received grant funding to purchase the particulate traps from Valley Detroit Diesel which we then installed on our diesel buses. Once the traps were being installed the District switched all diesel vehicles to the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel fuel. The Think vehicles were obtained from Barber Ford in Ventura.

Are there any maintenance or operational issues with you AFV(s) that others should be aware of?
LMUSD has been operating the LPG buses for over a year and have not experienced any maintenance problems. In fact, they require less maintenance than our diesel buses. We have not experienced any problem finding fueling sites; however, there is a one time training required in order to fuel your own vehicles. The lower miles per gallon of LPG relative to diesel are offset by its lower cost.

Are you happy with your AFV(s)? Is/Are your vehicle(s) performing better or worse than expected? Any recommendations to potential AFV buyers?
LMUSD is very pleased with our LPG fueled vehicles and would highly recommend them to others. In these difficult financial times the grants we received for alternative fuel vehicles has helped us to upgrade our fleet.