March 13, 2025- Toms River Regional 乐鱼体育s has had some success in past years in its pursuit of rebate funding for new school buses, which has no doubt come in handy amidst the ongoing budget woes caused by State Bill S2.
The opportunities from the EPA have taken on various forms over the years, from the Clean Diesel Rebate Program鈥攖hrough which TRRS was able to replace 29 buses and save $545K from 2017 to 2020鈥攖o its current iteration, the Clean 乐鱼体育 Bus Program, or CSB. Last year, the district applied, along with hundreds of other school districts throughout the nation, to replace old diesel-powered vehicles with low- or zero-emission buses.
Spoiler (pun intended) alert: The district was selected, and received $25k in rebate funding to replace a diesel-powered bus from 2002 with a brand new one.
Bus 135 is on the road since Monday, and Anthony Teixeira is behind the wheel. Not only is the new bus cleaner, more efficient, and better for the environment, it rides pretty well, too.
"The suspension is awesome," Teixeira said.
In a board-owned fleet of some 160 buses, number 135 makes it a clean 30 in the fleet that have generated rebates over the past eight years. Not too bad.
But it's all for naught without drivers like Teixeira who safely transport students each and every day, and the team at Transportation headquarters who keep buses new and not-so-new humming along. It's constant teamwork, so whether it's searching for alternative funding or picking up students, it's always on to the next stop.