August 10, 2018, Saratoga Springs, NY — On a bright sunny morning in late July, six brand new gasoline-powered IC Bus CE Series school buses, being driven by the Leonard Bus Sales team, pulled into Averill Park Central School District. The new gasoline-powered school buses are part of the district’s fleet rotation program designed to ensure the district has the safest, most efficient and cost-effective school bus fleet possible.
“We couldn’t be happier to be getting our new school buses,” said Averill Park Central School District Transportation Supervisor,” Mark Premo. “The new gasoline-powered school buses by IC Bus are great; the engines are very efficient, they have impressive power to easily manage our geographically diverse routes, are super quiet, which makes the school buses more enjoyable to ride and most of all – they come with great safety features.”
Averill Park Central School District operates 46 large school buses similar to the six news buses they just purchased from Leonard Bus Sales. The entire school bus fleet has 75 school buses, which transport 3,000 children to and from school during the school year. The district is geographically diverse and spans nine towns covering 103 square miles.
Averill Park School District decided to go with the new clean gasoline engines for a number of reasons specific to the school district and its bus routes. The IC Bus PSI 8.8L gasoline engines are purpose-built for the harsh demands of school transportation, providing a quieter ride and better startup in cold weather, while still providing diesel-like performance. The new buses require no aftertreatment equipment to treat emissions, and they are less complicated engines, which means they are easier to maintain and repair than diesel engines.
The average large school bus in the fleet is driven between 15,000 and 20,000 miles per year with many of those miles on rough roads, so it’s not only important to have a resilient, reliable school bus that can stand up to the demand, but it is crucial to have a fleet rotation program to help guide purchasing decisions and maintenance schedules.
“Leonard Bus Sales takes a lot of pressure off our transportation department, they provide expert advice, customized fleet planning tools, free training for our mechanics, and one-stop-shop service to help me fulfill my primary responsibility – which is making sure no one gets hurt on my watch,” said Premo.
Leonard Bus Sales works closely with Averill Park School in executing their fleet management plan by providing expert product and fleet replacement advice, which includes rotating out a few old school buses each year, to help spread the purchasing and maintenance costs out more evenly. The district’s goal is to try not to operate their school buses beyond 10-years, because older buses tend to be more expensive to maintain and repair.
“A well-managed school bus fleet is an important factor in saving precious transportation dollars, but it is even more important to the safety of the children riding the school buses,” said Leonard Bus Sales Vice President,” Jon Leonard. “We take our commitment to our industry very seriously. As a partner and trusted advisor, we do more than just sell great school buses, we work with our customers to understand their school transportation needs, and then provide the customized service, support, training and the education they need to make it easy for them to do their job each day.
Photo: Alan Stegich, Senior Product Support Manager, IC Bus; Sean Reilly, Transportation Advisor, Leonard Bus Sales; Stacey Bruce, Director of Business Integration, Leonard Bus Sales; Dr. James; Franchini, Superintendent of Schools, Averill Park CSD; Mark Premo, Transportation Supervisor, Averill Park CSD; Michael Middleton, Mechanic, Averill Park CSD; Michael Ouimet, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Averill Park CSD; Brett Lesson, Mechanic, Averill Park CSD; Jeff Nadeau, Assistant Transportation Advisor, Leonard Bus Sales