Keeping Tulsa school buses running

Monday, April 11th 2005, 10:16 am

By: News On 6

Some relief may be in sight at the fuel pump. Lundberg is out with its latest gas price survey of 7,000 gas stations. It shows over the past three weeks gas has increased 19 cents a gallon, but according to Lundberg, prices may be topping out.

News on 6 anchor Craig Day says that's a big relief for drivers. Drivers, especially those, who have no choice but to get out on the road, are ready for a break.

That includes school districts that have to keep the buses rolling. Demarco Grayson drives his Tulsa Public School bus about 70 miles each day. "64, 65, 66-dollars for 30 gallons." And that's just filling up half the tank. School districts across Oklahoma are feeling the impact of higher fuel costs. Tulsa Public Schools budgeted $700,000 this year for fuel. The Tulsa Public School System does get a discount on its fuel costs, simply because of the large volume of fuel the district buys every year, but when these buses only get five to ten miles per gallon, the slightest increase in prices can cost the district big.

This year, TPS needed an additional $280,000 for fuel because of the spike in costs. TPS has 250 buses running each day, adding up to three million miles each year. TPS sets its yearly fuel budget based on what they predict the price of fuel will be. Demarco Grayson: â€œ120-bucks to fill a bus.â€ Craig Day: â€œAnd how often do you have to fill it up?â€ Demarco Grayson: â€œAt least every two days."

For now, transportation workers will try to keep up with the fluctuating costs and will likely set aside more money next year.

TPS transportation workers will look into whether it would save money to buy buses fueled by natural gas in the future. Those natural gas powered buses are significantly more expensive than diesel powered buses, but they would save about 50 cents per gallon.