Family-owned and operated for more than 50 years, Busse Student Transportation provides school bus service for the Prior Lakes Savage Area School District, part of the growing Minneapolis suburb of Prior Lakes. The core of their mission has always been to deliver students to school safely, and they pride themselves on “caring just a little too much” about the community they serve.

Longtime proponents of IC Bus, the company operated with just four buses back in 1994 when President Jim Busse took over the business from his father, a former school bus driver. In the two decades since assuming leadership, Busse has presided over a great deal of growth and change. Today, Jim works alongside his daughter Nikki Gendron, who serves as operations manager. The company boasts more than 70 total employees and a fleet of 45 school buses, including 12 new gas-powered IC Bus CE Series models with PSI engines.

According to Busse, the changing demographics and increased population density of Prior Lakes made the shift from diesel to gas engines a no-brainer. The long-term plan is to go “all-in” on gasoline.

“The community has grown immensely,” says Busse. “When I first started, most of the time we were driving way out in the country. Now we have routes that are only five or ten minutes long due to new neighborhood elementary schools.. Most of the time our drivers are in stop-and-go situations. That was one of the main reasons for going with the gas-powered PSIs. With the diesel engines, it can be hard to get them up to operating temperature on our short routes.”

To continue reading about why Busse Student Transportation is making a case to switch to gasoline powered school buses, download the below testimonial.