ALBANY, N.Y. — A five-year delay to the mandate that school districts electrify their school bus fleets is poised to pass in the state budget.
For years, News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke has been investigating major cost and reliability concerns over the state’s mandate that school districts stop buying diesel buses by 2027 and stop using them altogether by 2035.
We’ve exposed serious concerns about reliability, cost, infrastructure, and availability of electric buses.
News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke has brought those concerns directly to the people in power including state lawmakers, the CEO of RG&E and NYSEG, the NYS DOT Commissioner and Governor Kathy Hochul.
Previous republican-led bills to delay or even eliminate the mandate have failed in Albany but State Sen. Chris Ryan, a democrat, introduced a bill to delay the mandate by 5 years a few months ago and he has been assured it will be passed as part of the new state budget.
Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC): “What do you think the future holds now? Do you think after these 5 years are up, you’ll reassess to see where the market is at that point?”
NYS Senator Chris Ryan: “Yea, of course. We just have the 5-year pause and then, if they are affordable, if they’re available, right now they’re not really even available, or affordable. If they work, if the efficacy is there, we’ve got to make sure they can do the long distances, make sure they don’t run out of charges when they have to turn on the heat in the winter-time so, in 5 years if we have to pivot, we pivot.”
The delay is coming a bit later than most districts probably would have liked. School budgets are being voted on next week and some local districts, like Pittsford and Hilton, have electric bus purchase propositions on the ballot. “Nothing in this legislation precludes any district from buying an electric bus if they want to, we’re just saying that you don’t have to,” Senator Ryan says.
It’s a choice many districts were hoping they could have made long ago.
News10NBC reached out to both Hilton and Pittsford schools about their electric bus propositions. Hilton didn’t get back to us. A spokeswoman for Pittsford said if it passes, the district will continue to move toward zero emissions buses to be prepared for the new timeline that has been set.
News10NBC Investigates: New York to give school districts a 5-year reprieve on electric bus mandate WHEC.com.
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