United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-03-018
Environmental Protection June 2003
Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
&EPA Program
Announcement
Clean School Bus USA:
Tomorrow's Buses for —-^-—>,
Today's Children
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new
initiative called Clean School Bus USA: Tomorrow's Buses for Today's
Children. The goal of this national initiative is to improve air quality in
communities and protect the health of school children and the general
public. EPA believes this goal can best be achieved through a partner-
ship of government, community, business, educational, health and
environmental leaders. The partners will work to encourage activities
that will help to reduce emissions. These include the adoption of policies
and practices to eliminate unnecessary public school bus idling, upgrad-
ing ("retrofitting") buses that will remain in the fleet with better emis-
sion control technologies and/or fueling them with cleaner fuels, and
replacing the oldest buses with new, less polluting buses.
Background
School buses are the safest way for children to get to school. However,
pollution from diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone—
especially the 24 million children in the United States who ride a bus to
and from school every day. By working together, we can reduce the
pollution from public school buses making them also a very clean way for
children to get to school.
> Printed on Recycled Paper
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On average, school buses drive more than 4 billion miles each year with
students spending an hour and a half per weekday on a school bus. In
addition, it's common practice for buses to idle for long periods of time,
sometimes right beside school grounds where children gather. By reduc-
ing the amount of time that buses idle, school bus fleets will use less fuel,
save money, and limit exposure to diesel exhaust.
Older school buses on the road today pollute up to six times more than
clean technology buses. Currently, EPA is working aggressively to reduce
pollution from new heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses by requiring them
to meet tougher and tougher emission standards in the future. However,
because diesel engines are durable and long-lasting, it will take a long
time for new diesel buses to replace the existing fleet of public school
buses currently on the road.
Clean School Bus USA is designed to jump-start the process by upgrad-
ing the nation's public school bus fleet so that this generation of school
children can reap the benefits of technologies that are available now to
reduce emissions.
Initiative Overview
Clean School Bus USA is a public-private environmental partnership that
seeks to reduce children's exposure to air pollution from diesel school
buses. The program emphasizes three ways to reduce public school bus
emissions:
• Encouraging policies and practices to eliminate unnecessary school
bus idling.
• Upgrading ("retrofitting") buses that will remain in the fleet with
better emission control technologies and/or fueling them with
cleaner fuels.
• Replacing the oldest buses in the fleet with new, less polluting buses.
The goal of Clean School Bus USA is to reduce both children's exposure
to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by school buses.
Children are vulnerable to the effects of diesel emissions which can cause
respiratory disease and exacerbate long-term conditions such as asthma.
Air pollution from diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone,
but children may be more susceptible because they breathe 50 percent
more air per pound of body weight than do adults.
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Implementing EPA's Clean School Bus USA program will result in
substantial health benefits including: fewer cases of lower respiratory
symptoms in healthy children; fewer cases of upper respiratory and
asthma symptoms in asthmatic children; and fewer cases of acute bronchi-
tis.
In addition to helping EPA formulate a comprehensive plan to address
public school bus emissions, Clean School Bus USA partners are lending
specific resources, know-how, and expertise to the campaign. By working
together, we can reduce pollution from public school buses making sure
that school buses are also a very clean way for children to get to school.
For More Information
For more information about Clean School Bus USA, visit our Web site
at:
www.epa.gov/CleanSchoolBus
or send an email to:
CleanSchoolBusUSA@epa.gov
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