As gas prices continue to rise, the Sioux City School District is trying to find solutions to offset the costs of fuel.
Tim Paul, director of operations and maintenance of the school district, told Siouxland Public Media on Thursday the school has just started seeing the impact of gas prices, adding that for the majority of the school year gas prices have been steady.
Paul said each year the school district tries to budget a certain amount averaged from the previous year for fuel.
He stated that if fuel prices remain high, the budget will be tight, impacting the overall costs and budget for transportation.
Paul mentioned a way the school district has been managing the rising prices is by building an assorted fleet of vehicles to lessen the impacts if a problem like this occurs.
The district has 10 electric buses, 6 propane buses, the other 5 electric buses are expected to be operating soon and the district plans to continue adding more propane and gas vehicles to the fleet.
He said another way the district is offsetting gas prices is being mindful and really conservative with school trips and making sure to use efficient routes.
“We might have to look at some of our activities, decide how we can get more efficient with those either by sending less buses or curb some of the transportation we have,” said Paul.
Paul said where gas prices are at now the electric buses are considerably more affordable to operate and they are going to make sure they cover as many routes as they can.
He mentioned they will use the electric buses primarily for transporting students around the district during the day between different educational facilities as they try to offset the costs of fuel.
According to AAA, Iowa gas prices are averaging at $3.35, sixteen cents more than last week’s price.
