Allegany County puts New York's first propane transit buses on the road as Suburban Propane holds its quarterly payout near $0.33
Allegany County is running the first propane autogas public transit fleet in New York state. Officials cut the ribbon Thursday on the buses at the county fairgrounds in Angelica. Access Allegany provides more than 50,000 trips a year, and those miles now come off a propane marketer's bobtail instead of a diesel rack.
Brooke Harris, chairman of the Allegany County Board of Legislators, said running transit in a rural county is expensive and officials went looking for something cheaper to operate. "We took a chance on this project, and I think it's going to end up being a wise decision," Harris said. The county is pitching the fleet as a template for other rural agencies, which is the part worth watching if you deliver in upstate New York.
Newport News schools
Newport News is reporting savings in the thousands after moving school buses from diesel to propane, per 13newsnow. No per-gallon spread was published, so take the number as the district's own accounting.
School and municipal fleets remain the most reliable autogas demand a jobber can get. Fixed routes, contracted gallons, a tank on district property, and an annual volume you can actually forecast. If your territory has a district still running diesel buses, that conversation is cheaper to have now than in October.
The Suburban Propane distribution
Suburban Propane Partners kept its quarterly distribution at $0.325 a unit, payable Aug. 11 to holders of record Aug. 4, according to MarketScreener. MarketBeat's headline on the same announcement put the figure at $0.33. The two do not agree, so wait for the partnership's own release before quoting a number to anyone.
Either way it reads as a hold rather than a cut, which is a decent signal from a distributor heading into the part of the year when there is inventory to carry and no heating revenue to pay for it.
Three propane accidents
An employee died in a propane explosion inside a trailer at Bellemere Winds Golf Resort near Peterborough, Ontario, according to OPP. A propane leak caused a house explosion in Bridgton, Maine. Strongsville, Ohio fire officials issued a warning against using propane torches to kill weeds after two house fires.
The resort death happened at a commercial account, and those are the incidents that draw the closest look at whoever set and filled the tank. Summer is also when cylinder handling gets sloppy at the customer end, which is the same reason the Boca Raton disposal reminder is circulating.
What to watch
Whether Suburban's declared figure lands at $0.325 or $0.33 when the partnership posts it. Whether other rural New York counties follow Allegany on autogas or wait to see the maintenance numbers. And weekly EIA propane stocks through the build season, since that is what sets your winter cost basis.