Reducing School Bus Idling: A Key to a Healthier Ride

Key Ideas

• Idling contributes to air pollution both outside and inside the bus. Diesel exhaust can get into the bus, school buildings and pollute the outdoor environment. This causes health risks for everyone, especially children and drivers. For the health of the children and drivers alike, idling should be kept to minimum.
• Some states, school districts or localities have idling policies, if yours has one, please comply with it.
• If there are no idling policies in your area, you as the driver can still make a difference.
  • Turning off the engine when it doesn’t need to be on is an easy way to protect children’s health and the environment.
  • Follow these manufacturer guidelines on idling, typically:
    - Turn off the bus during breaks and lags in scheduling
    - No more than 3-5 minutes warm-up
    - No more than 3-5 minutes cool-down
    - No more than 5 minutes for defrosting windows
    - Use the “accessories” position for the radio and other electrical components.
• Sometimes idling is unavoidable, in cases of extreme weather and/or passenger safety. Just use your best judgment in these cases.
• Idling causes wear-and-tear on the engine and wastes fuel and money. For example, if a fleet operates 50 buses and each bus reduces its idling time by 30 minutes per day, at $1.50 per gallon of diesel fuel, the fleet would save $3,375 per school year in fuel costs.
• The safest way for children to travel to and from school is on school buses. We all owe a big "thank-you" to drivers for their professionalism in making that happen.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the reasons for not idling school buses excessively?
2. What are the challenges to not idling the engine?
3. What can you do personally to help limit idling?
4. Do you have any suggestions to help make "reduced idling" the norm?

Materials and information on reduced idling is on EPA’s web site: www.epa.gov/otaq/schoolbus/antiidling.htm

Thank you for your participation!