ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State is still moving forward with mandating districts switch to electric school buses.
A Republican state senator introduced an amendment to repeal New York’s electric school bus mandate this week, but it was rejected in Albany after every Democrat in the state senate voted to stay the course. That current course requires districts stop buying new diesel buses in 2027 and stop using all diesel buses by 2035.
News10NBC has done nearly a dozen stories about cost, infrastructure, and reliability concerns surrounding the mandate.
A handful of districts locally have started transitioning at least a few buses to electric. Gates-Chili has the most in our area with 15 electric buses in its fleet.
The buses work fine in Gates-Chili because the routes are relatively short and densely populated, but they don’t work as well in the more rural Naples School District in Ontario County.
The transportation director in Naples recently told News10NBC, the buses are much more expensive to buy and to run — anywhere from five to eight times as much as diesel according to his data.
That’s why state Senator George Borrello is looking to repeal the electric bus mandate. “If there’s some school districts who feel this is right for them and they can afford it God bless them, but to mandate it all throughout New York State this one size fits all mandate is just irresponsible,” Borrello tells News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke.
There have already been instances of electric bus referendums being voted down in local districts.
Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC): “If their voters are saying no, I’m not letting you buy these buses and the state is saying you’ve got to buy these buses, what happens?”
Senator Borrello: “Well I sent a letter to the governor more than a year ago asking that exact question, what happens to school districts that can’t comply? What happens to school districts where the voters have said no, we’re not paying for these buses and I never got an answer from the governor.”
Last February, when Lewke asked Governor Hochul about the concerns districts were raising over cost, reliability, and grid issues, she did acknowledge the challenges. “This is aspirational, we want this to happen, but we also have to take into consideration that there are circumstances that have changed since this went into law,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the time. The governor did go on to allow districts up to (2) two-year extensions to the mandate.
Jennifer Lewke: “We know dozens of schools have already applied for extensions. I think they’re hoping that if they kick it down the road a little bit maybe you all in Albany will do something different. Do you think there’s anything different that can be considered?”
Senator Borrello: “Well, look I think we’ve kicked the can down the road enough with this that now it’s to the point where these school districts have to make major decisions on infrastructure, on budgeting, they’ve got to order these things well in advance…I understand the governor wants to pretend like she’s saving the planet and my Democrat colleagues the same but this is a multibillion dollar boondoggle that is largely unfunded and is really creating havoc in our school districts all across New York State.”
News10NBC Investigates: Amendment to repeal NY’s electric bus mandate rejected WHEC.com.
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