10 Apr

Excited Crowd at Niagara Wheatfield CSD Greets New Clean Diesel Buses Delivered by Leonard Bus Sales

April 10, 2014, Bergen, N.Y. – When you deliver new school buses as part of your job, you get used to showing up at a school district’s garage to find a few mechanics and a school official or two waiting to ceremoniously take possession of the new bus’s keys. It’s a satisfying, but seemingly routine affair.

But every once in a while, you get a surprise.

That’s what happened when Leonard Bus Sales Service Manager Kevin Toal and three others arrived at the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District garage recently delivering four brand new, clean diesel IC Bus CE Series buses, with the newly-available Cummins ISB engines.

“When we pulled into their facility we were immediately swarmed by a crowd of personnel that included business officials, supervisors, mechanics, and drivers,” said Toal. “They were so overwhelmed with excitement and joy that it was awesome to experience.”

The delivery to Niagara Wheatfield CSD made the school district one of the first in the state, or even the country, to have the IC Bus brand buses with the newly-available Cummins motor. Since October, Leonard Bus Sales school district partners have been able to order CE Series buses with either the MaxxForce engines or the Cummins ISB engine. But the Cummins-powered buses only began arriving at customer locations in the past few weeks.

Leonard Bus Sales President Mike Leonard said, “With these Cummins-powered IC Bus brand buses, not only do we truly offer the broadest range of clean-diesel engine options in the industry, but our partners – new and returning – have the chance to choose the engine that best meets their district’s needs and goals.”

For Niagara Wheatfield, the infusion of new clean diesel buses like these will, among other things, help them significantly “green-up” their fleet. That’s because today’s clean diesel buses are 20 times cleaner than the diesel buses of just a decade ago.

“Our district needed new buses, and wanted to improve our fleet’s overall efficiency, without sacrificing the safety or quality,” said Niagara Wheatfield CSD Transportation Supervisor Leslie Buczkowski. “The team at Leonard Bus sales helped us do that with new clean diesel buses, and we are looking forward to a great relationship with them.”

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), new clean-diesel school buses hitting the road today have reduced emission of NOx (nitric oxide) and particulate matter by 98% compared with buses built just ten years ago, and have reduced hydrocarbon emission by almost 90 percent.

“At Leonard Bus Sales, we know that one of the most efficient and affordable ways to green-up your fleet is to simply replace older buses with new clean diesel buses,” said Mike Leonard. “By replacing a few ten-year-old buses with new clean diesel buses, our districts partners can dramatically improve their fleet’s efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”

The experts at Leonard Bus Sales not only know the importance of regular fleet replacement for efficiency, but they also work with school districts to help make sure buses receive the best maintenance, have access to the right parts, and that the school’s bus technicians get the training needed to keep buses running as green as possible.

All that support comes with the purchase of new buses from Leonard Bus Sales. That’s the level of service that has won Leonard Bus Sales multiple awards in recent years and has made the company an industry leader in customer support.

And that may explain why so many members of the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District leadership and transportation team came out to greet the four new, clean diesel IC Bus CE Series buses on a recent day. There was a reason for all the excitement.

In the words of Leonard Bus Sales’ Kevin Toal, “It was awesome to experience.”

In the Photo: Niagara Wheatfield Transportation Supervisor Leslie Buczkowski, Lead Mechanic Robert Jasper, Head Bus Driver Cheryl Taylor, surrounded by a team of Niagara Wheatfield bus drivers.

Leonard Bus Sales, Inc. is owned and operated by the Leonard family, a recognized leader in the distribution and support of quality, environmentally-friendly school and commercial buses.  A third generation family-owned business, Leonard Bus Sales has nearly 50 years of experience providing cost-saving fleet management and award-winning customer support. Leonard Bus Sales is a leading-distributor of IC BusTM brand buses in Upstate New York.  The company also distributes Type-A school and commercial buses from Trans Tech throughout New York and Type-A commercial buses from Champion Bus in Upstate New York. The company is headquartered in Deposit, NY and operates four full-service facilities in Bergen, Rome, Saratoga Springs and a Trans Tech Type-A facility in Garden City Park, N.Y. — www.leonardbus.com