State Alternative Fuel Incentive Grants are helping several area companies and municipal entities add green vehicles to their transportation fleets — including the firm that buses students to Greater Latrobe schools.

General Manager Jay Kilpatrick said the $300,000 grant Norvelt-based DMJ Transportation received will help cover the extra investment the company made in 34 new propane-fueled school buses it recently purchased for its Greater Latrobe routes.

In addition to reducing emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other compounds, propane buses offer other advantages compared to the exhaust and noise associated with traditional buses that burn diesel fuel, Kilpatrick said.

“Propane buses are very quiet, and there’s no black smoke,” he said.

Kilpatrick said the initial investment in a propane-fueled school bus is about $90,000, compared to $80,000 for a diesel bus. But, he said, propane buses tend to be low in costs for maintenance and oil.

He said DMJ now operates 78 propane buses, including 24 it brought online in 2017, for the Greensburg Salem School District, and 20 it added later, for the Mt. Pleasant Area School District.

DMJ began a five-year contract with Greater Latrobe last July.

The grant to DMJ was among $3.4 million the state Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded to 20 cleaner transportation projects across the state.

Also in Westmoreland County, United Parcel Service and Shank Waste Service each received $300,000. UPS will apply its grant toward the purchase of 35 delivery trucks fueled by compressed natural gas. They’re based at its New Stanton facility.

Shank’s grant will help with the purchase of eight compressed natural gas garbage trucks. The company provides refuse collection in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Allegheny County received a $30,000 grant toward the purchase of four electric vehicles, while the City of Pittsburgh received $160,000 toward the purchase of eight electric vehicles and an electric bucket truck.

TARS Trucking received a $52,500 grant toward purchase of a Tesla electric tractor-trailer to haul metal freight for clients in the Pittsburgh region.

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