New data reveals what school buses are really exposing kids to
EnviroKlenz SMARTView AQI paves a new path for school bus health and safety through real-time indoor air quality improvement and oversight on aging fleets
Kansas, KS (August 4th, 2025) – This fall, millions of students will ride to school on buses with no filtration and no indoor air quality standards. Nearly 90 percent of those vehicles are still diesel or propane. With the recent administration’s funding shifts and the slowdown in support for electric bus transitions, many districts now face even longer timelines for fleet electrification. In the interim, an effective and immediate solution is desperately needed to protect student health. But until now, no one had data from actual buses, across real routes, measuring real-time exposure in motion.
The field results
From December through March 2025, EnviroKlenz SMARTView AQI—a real-time air intelligence system by Kansas-based Timilon Corporation—was deployed across diesel, propane, and electric school buses in Georgia. It tracked IAQ conditions inside active buses, including PM2.5, TVOCs, CO2, PM1, temperature, and humidity.
The findings were clear:
- – PM2.5 exceeded EPA health limits by 114%
- – VOCs reached 376% above OSHA’s recommended exposure limit
- – CO2 levels consistently flagged poor ventilation, especially with windows closed
These results confirmed what CARB and EPA had modeled for decades—but this time, with on-the-ground data across an active fleet.
A Real Intervention — Fast, Affordable, Proven
After establishing a baseline, Timilon deployed EnviroKlenz SMARTView AQI’s real-time remediation system using its FAST-ACT-driven EnviroKlenz filtration units, originally designed for defense and public safety response. The air quality management platform and equipment not only flagged problems but corrected them automatically.
The entire retrofit process required no vehicle replacement, no HVAC modification, and no technical training. Each install took under one hour, cost the district less than $2,000 per bus, and delivered immediate, trackable impact:
- – PM2.5 reduced by 38.9%
- – VOCs reduced by 69%
- – CO2 improved by 18.5%
Fleet managers received live dashboards showing which buses needed attention and when. The result wasn’t just clean air—it was operational clarity.
“This wasn’t a test in a lab,” said George Negron, SVP of Timilon. “This was 200+ rides’ worth of live exposure data, measured and fixed in real time. What we found is that kids are being exposed to dangerous levels of particulate and chemical pollutants before the school bell even rings. But what we also proved is that districts don’t have to wait years for electric fleets or federal mandates to do something about it.”
Why this matters now
There are still no federal IAQ standards for school buses, despite the fact that buses carry classroom-level occupancy in confined, often poorly ventilated spaces. Students routinely spend 5–10 hours per week riding through environments with known air risks—from diesel corridors to cropping zones with pesticide drift and red clay dust.
EnviroKlenz SMARTView AQI tracks both AQI (outdoor) and IAQ (indoor) in real time for fleets – something no other system currently does at this scale.
It is already active in more than 400 public transportation buses across three states, with major transit agencies committed to pilots and full-scale adoption before year-end. The public transportation sector is leading. But school districts are still lagging behind—despite facing the same, if not greater, exposure risks.
“This is a public health issue hiding in plain sight,” Negron added. “If you want to improve student health, reduce absenteeism, and show your community that air quality matters, this is one of the fastest, most cost-effective things a district can do.”
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lauren Baker
Marketing Program Manager, Timilon Corporation
239.330.9650
About Timilon Corporation
The Mission of Timilon Corporation is to help individuals and communities create a healthy, safe, and comfortable personal environment where they assemble, learn, live, work, and play. Timilon develops, manufactures, and markets a broad array for patented environmentally safe and effective products, technologies, systems, and applications for the capture, neutralization, and elimination of a wide variety of chemical and biological toxins, pathogens, and other nuisance surface and air contaminants. The Company serves multiple domestic and international educational, commercial, industrial, governmental, military, recreational, and consumer markets. More information is available at www.timilon.com.
