Bend-La Pine students going green on the road: District’s first electric school bus is on the job

So quiet, the bus has to play a tune

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Riding on a school bus just became eco-friendly in Central Oregon. Students from Bend-La Pine Schools hopped on the district's first electric school bus on Tuesday.

The bus first will be run out of Silver Rail Elementary for two weeks, then rotated to other schools -- not just giving more students a chance to see what it's all about, but also to test its abilities and see where it best fits in for the district's transportation plan. 

The bus is so quiet, it has to plays a tune to let people know it's there.

"This is a little bit of an experiment," Director of Transportation Kim Crabtree said at Tuesday's green ribbon-cutting. "We are trying to move as green as we can." 

The district's first electric bus was purchased with $160,000 in grant funds from Pacific Power's Electric Mobility grant program, along with the Oregon Clean Fuels Program.

  There's room for 71 students, and it'll transport both middle school and high school students. 

Elementary students from Silver Rail took a test ride and shared their thoughts on going green. 

"It's very smooth," second-grader Toren P. said. "It doesn't make a lot of noise, and it was good to know that you weren't polluting the environment." 

Fifth-grader Garret B. said, "The brakes don't screech -- like, it's smoother and like, it's just so quiet."

Bend-La Pine Schools has 127 traditional buses in its fleet. Most school buses in the country - over 90%  are powered by diesel. 

"We have over 50% of our fleet that's propane already," Crabtree said. "We would like to be as green as possible."

The bus helps to reduce noise and also will save the district money on fuel  

"We did put a charging station on our own lot," she said. "The type of charging system we have in this, we can charge elsewhere." 

In addition to providing a lift, the electric bus will also also serve as a constant lesson for students. 

"They're going to do some assignments on it," Crabtree said. "The green teams at the school are going to do some studies on it."