The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE


UNM Parking & Transportation Services introduces Veggie Bus: the Waste Vegetable Oil-Powered Shuttle

On Monday, Aug. 24, the University of New Mexico’s Parking and Transportation Services (PATS) will debut the university’s first waste-vegetable oil (WVO) powered vehicle, the “Veggie Bus,” at the UNM Duck Pond shuttle stop. Based on a conventional PATS diesel-powered shuttle, the Veggie Bus sports student artwork from contest winner Crystal Wong and will run on the Redondo route.
“The introduction of the Veggie Bus represents a major milestone in both innovation and sustainability for the University of New Mexico,” said Cynthia Martin, PATS Program Planning Manager.
As with all PATS’ shuttles, the Veggie Bus is free to ride. PATS invites the community to join them for a media event, inaugural trip around campus, and enjoy free vegetable-oil-cooked tater tots along the way. Tater-tots will be available near the Duck Pond shuttle stop from 10:45 a.m. on Aug. 24 until supplies run out.  President Schmidly will speak at 11 a.m., and after his speech members of the community and media will join Schmidly on the inaugural trip around campus.
PATS spearheaded the Veggie Bus project along with fellow campus collaborators, Physical Plant Division (PPD) Automotive and Sustainability Studies students. Future plans for the Veggie Bus include collecting the WVO generated by campus food vendors and using it to fuel the Veggie Bus.
 “By utilizing this relatively cost-free fuel supply, the Veggie Bus will remain independent of rising conventional fuel costs, while at the same time providing an optimum collection and disposal service of material that up until now had been considered waste.” Said Martin.
Campus food service vendor, Chartwells, is already on board with the project.
With this trial initiative, PATS hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of a completely self-sufficient, on-campus transportation resource. Depending on its performance, more WVO vehicles could be commissioned in the future.
“Veggie Bus highlights the use of a campus resource in a completely proactive way. The use of WVO in this application demonstrates UNM’s commitment to long-term sustainability,” said Martin. “We think that the appearance of the Veggie Bus on and around campus will be a very strong and positive image sending out the message that by thinking differently about our common resources, we can come up with solid, effective, sustainable solutions.”

For more information visit Parking & Transportation Services online at http://pats.unm.edu or contact Brian Kilburn at bkilburn@unm.edu.

Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; email: bhendrix@unm.edu

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The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.
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