Blue Bird Corp. has donated an advanced Blue Bird Vision electric school bus to Peach County Schools (PCS) in Georgia.
Peach County has been home to Blue Bird’s Fort Valley, Ga., manufacturing facility since the company’s founding nearly a century ago. The local school district will utilize the advanced, zero-emission school bus for day trips, field trips and on special routes.
PCS serves more than 4,000 students in seven schools. The school district maintains an all-Blue Bird fleet of nearly 50 school buses. These buses travel nearly 4,000 miles a day as they pick up and safely transport approximately 2,300 students to and from schools.
Blue Bird donated a pre-owned Vision all-electric school bus in excellent condition to PCS. The 37-foot, zero-emission vehicle can carry a maximum of 66 students for up to 120 miles on a single charge. Individuals riding on Blue Bird’s electric bus are no longer exposed to diesel tailpipe emissions linked to health issues including asthma and heart disease.
“We thank our valued community partner Blue Bird for the generous donation of an electric school bus,” says PCS Superintendent Dr. Lionel Brown. “Both Peach County Schools and Blue Bird have called Fort Valley our home for nearly a century. Today, we add the first zero-emission vehicle to our school bus fleet. Moving forward, our students will enjoy clean and quiet rides on fun-filled day and field trips.”
“As a good corporate citizen, we are pleased to donate an advanced Vision electric school bus to our friends and neighbors at Peach County Schools,” says Phil Horlock, Blue Bird CEO. “For more than 30 years, the district has solely relied on Blue Bird for its school bus needs. Now students and staff will experience our zero-emission vehicles — the next step in the evolution of clean student transportation.”
Blue Bird partner InCharge Energy will donate a Level 2 AC vehicle charger, enabling the bus to be recharged overnight. The donation includes the charging hardware, one year of InControl software and data plan, a virtual site assessment and a route planning consultation.
In August 2023, Blue Bird donated a Vision electric school bus to the Jerome Bettis Bus Stops Here Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pa. The non-profit organization will turn that bus into a mobile computer lab to expand its digital literacy programs for both children and adults in low-income communities.
Blue Bird has more than 20,000 propane, natural gas and electric-powered buses in operation.
