As the cost of fuel continues to soar, particularly diesel, the Lewiston and Auburn schools are not feeling the pain at the pump as much as many school districts.

Nationally, the average for a gallon of gas is $4.56, AAA reported Tuesday. For diesel, which fuels most larger vehicles including most school buses, the average national price is $6.43, up nearly $2 from this time last year.

Maine’s average is $4.42 for gas and $6.50 for diesel.

Because Lewiston Public Schools purchases fuel through the city’s bidding process, and a majority of the Auburn School Department’s buses run on propane, school officials in the Lewiston-Auburn area are not entirely worried about the costs yet.

Additionally, both school districts have relatively short bus routes in comparison to more rural school departments.

“Diesel represents a relatively small portion of our overall school transportation and equipment fuel use compared to a district operating a diesel-powered bus fleet,” said Susan Dorris, superintendent of the Auburn School Department.

Nationally, school districts are condensing routes and trying to find other ways to cut expenses to prevent the high cost of diesel from affecting their school budgets, NPR reported earlier this month.

Most smaller school districts in Maine purchase diesel and gas directly from the source and are tasked with factoring it into the budget before the school year starts.

The Twin Cities are also facing price pressures, but school officials had anticipated increases to transportation budgets this year, and in Auburn’s case much earlier.

Auburn, which has 18 propane-powered buses and eight gasoline-powered buses, according to Dorris, began moving away from diesel-powered buses several years ago.

Lewiston Public Schools, which has 173 vehicles including buses, vans and contracted drivers, according to Superintendent Jake Langlais, purchases fuel through a joint bidding process with the city. It locks in a fuel price for the year based on the number of gallons purchased, city officials said.

Neither school department supplied specific fuel costs for the year or comparisons. However, the city of Lewiston as a whole paid $926,000 for the 2026 calendar year, according to Finance Committee documents, and will go out to bid again this spring.

The purchase includes 200,000 gallons of fuel at a discounted rate of $2.09 a gallon for gasoline and $2.54 per gallon for diesel. Compared to the 2025 calendar year, the city of Lewiston is actually saving just over $100,000 this year.

Schools have some equipment that use diesel, such as tractors to manage the fields and snow removal equipment. Dorris said Auburn has hardly used its tractors or other field maintenance vehicles because of the dry summer, so there’s some unexpected cost savings.

As for bus routes, both departments have relatively short routes in comparison to rural school districts, which in some areas have 100–mile bus runs.

In Lewiston, which is responsible for transporting students to its eight schools across the city, most families are close to the school that their children attend.

Of Auburn’s bus routes that are publicly posted, the bus rarely travels more than 5 miles. There are several stops along the way, but most routes are a mile or two. At budget meetings earlier this year, Dorris noted that the Auburn transportation department will use technology to minimize bus routes and ensure the routes are as effective as possible.