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To Whom It May Concern:

 

My name is Rick Feinstein and I am the Director of Transportation
for the Colton Joint Unified School District (CJUSD). Our District
resides in the South Coast Air Quality Management District and we
are subject to the SCAMD’s fleet rules.

 

The CJUSD educates 25,000 students within a 48 square mile area in
the Inland Empire. Our District includes the communities of
Bloomington, Colton, Grand Terrace, and portions of Fontana, Loma
Linda, Rialto, Riverside County, San Bernardino City and San
Bernardino County areas. Colton operates a fleet of school buses
that provide over 3,000,000 annual passenger trips and we
travel approximately one million miles each year. 

 

Colton was one of the first Districts to purchase CNG school buses
within the South Coast basin and before any fleet rules or
significant funding grants were made available, we converted about
20% of our fleet to CNG. In fact, it is school districts like
Colton that tested the technology and helped prove the viability
of CNG for school bus operations. And CNG is a viable option for
operations with on-site fueling capabilities.

 

With the support of our Administration, School Board and
subsequent funding grant opportunities through the AQMD and other
agencies, we have moved aggressively toward the goal of replacing
100% of our bus fleet with CNG. The CJUSD now has the largest
CNG school bus fleets within the Inland Empire. We have 43 buses
or 84% of our daily bus routes using CNG. I think it’s important
to note that we have not relied solely on grants. To date, our
District has spent approximately $3,000,000 of our District funds
towards this endeavor. Those were funds that could have been used
in the classroom, but our School Board also understands the
need to provide cleaner school buses for the health of our
students, employees and the public.

 

I’m writing today for three main reasons:  

 

1) To express our support for the Clean School Bus Program that
you are considering for approval. 

 

2) To urge you to allow School Districts who operate their own
buses within the SCAQMD to trade buses for this program. 

 

For a variety of reasons, some school District bus operations are
either unable or choose not to apply for grant funding
opportunities, while others have made significant progress
reducing their fleet emissions.

  

By allowing Districts to trade post-1987 buses, the operations
that are willing and already have the needed infrastructure in
place can expedite the placement of lower-emission buses into
service and continue the forward progress needed to improve the
overall statewide fleet.  

 

For example, Colton and Fontana Unified School District recently
made a trade with the last lower-emission grant program through
the SCAQMD. Fontana crushed three 1960’s Crown buses, received
three 1988 buses from Colton and Colton purchased three new
CNG buses with the grant money.  

 

Without the funding, Colton would not have been able to purchase
the buses and we would have continued to operate those 1988
diesel buses. Without the trading opportunity, Fontana would have
continued to operate some of the oldest, most polluting buses in
the State. 

 

Either way, the net results are the same: three dirty and less
safe buses now off the road. It was a win-win for Colton,
Fontana, SCAQMD, parents, students and the general public. 

 

Therefore, I urge you to permit the SCAQMD to allow District
trading opportunities for this and any future lower-emission grant
programs CARB provides. 

 

3) To encourage you to continue with your efforts to reduce diesel
pollution exposure – especially for children. I know the future may
bring changes to the programs that govern lower-emission programs.
But regardless, there are so many benefits when you send your
resources in our direction and those benefits can’t always be
measured by a cost per ton ratio. 

 

Rick Feinstein

Director of Transportation 

Colton Joint Unified School District

(909) 876 - 4119