Back to School Week -- Transportation
Tip #2: Don't Idle
As cash-strapped school districts make bus service cutbacks, more students will find themselves walking, biking, or carpooling to class this year. Not every parent is comfortable allowing a kid to hoof it alone, so the line of cars idling in front of the elementary school could grow in response to bus cutbacks. If you find yourself waiting in a car, turn off the engine. According to the California Energy Commission, 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning off an engine and restarting it. The EPA is concerned about the emissions from the diesel engines of school buses, so they've started Clean School Bus USA, an idle-reduction campaign. If fuel savings and pollution reduction don't convince you to give that engine a rest, consider that idling actually causes more wear on internal engine parts than driving at normal speeds.