OMNIA Partners, Public Sector’s Post

Electric School Buses Are Coming to Glades County Schools An initial group of nearly 1,700 students will have access to clean and reliable transportation through the district's 13 new electric school buses MOORE HAVEN, Fla., Nov. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Glades County School District today announced its plans to upgrade more than half of the district's fleet to electric by deploying 13 Type C Blue Bird electric school buses and electrifying two charging depots. Provided by local school bus dealer – Florida Transportation Systems – Glades County School District will have a significant advancement in their fleet with the acquisition of new electric buses, which will help to improve air quality and provide reliable electric transportation to students at Moore Haven Elementary, West Glades School, and Moore Haven Middle-High School. This momentous opportunity comes as a much-needed solution to address the outdated state of the current fleet, where a majority of buses exceed ten years in service, and some even reaching a staggering twenty-five years. The decision to invest in electric buses marks a monumental win for

School buses represent the largest mass transit system in the U.S., yet there has been minimal progress to meet the needs of today's drivers, schools and caregivers. BusRight has developed the technology to change that. After announcing a $7M Series A this summer, co-founder and CEO Keith Corso spoke with Fast Company's Nicole Gull McElroy about BusRight's plan to improve student transportation needs. The focus? Addressing complex route requirements, tackling driver shortages, and enhancing school bus safety for our most precious cargo. Exciting times ahead as BusRight leverages technology to usher in a new era of efficient and secure student transportation. https://lnkd.in/eArcT4e2

#Electric school buses aren’t the only focus of the California Air Resources Board when it comes to getting students to and from class. CARB announced Thursday it awarded $33 million to seven low-income communities to fund zero-emissions transportation and mobility options that can benefit schoolchildren. Electric school buses aren’t a part of any project, although the City of El Monte near Los Angeles is receiving over $6.5 million to purchase four electric shuttle buses to transport students and a charging station as well as to provide driver training. Instead, the #CleanMobility in Schools and #Sustainable #Transportation Equity Project mostly targets #electriccar and #bikesharing, and other bicycle and pedestrian programs such as Safe Routes to School. Sacramento City Unified School District will use a $500,000 grant to conduct a needs assessment for its Safe Routes to School for All program. The project will include walking audits of 15 schools to assess transportation and safety barriers, as well as plan outreach and education events. “Planning for a zero-emission future means helping Californians access essential everyday needs with clean and shared transportation options while reducing reliance on personal vehicles,” said CARB Liane Randolph in a statement. “Through these clean mobility grants, we are helping communities bring their transportation ideas to fruition and addressing historic inequities in places that have been underserved by mobility options.” Other winners are the cities of Hayward, Needles, #SanDiego, and several cities in the San Joaquin Valley. The funding is part of the $48 billion California Climate Commitment, which includes over $10 billion to accelerate the ZEV transition and build charging infrastructure. Funding also comes from California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative using billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars. So far, CARB says has allocated $265 million statewide to purchase electric school buses. From School Transportation News by Ryan Gray

The demand for electric school buses is growing - AMAZING news for the health and benefit of our littlest and most important stakeholders🌟 The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enabled the EPA to fund the Clean School Bus Program (CSBP), providing $5B over five years to replace diesel school buses with clean alternatives. In the first two years, CSBP has funded 8,000+ electric school buses serving over 16M students in 49 states.   We found some interesting stats in the first two rounds of applications📈 ✅ Over 2500 school districts have applied for CSBP, 91% of them being for electric school buses ✅ During the first round, over 2000 applications requested $4B worth of funding! The EPA only released $500M in the first round ✅ $965M was available for the second round, and $2B was requested ✅ 98% of second-round funding awards went to electric school buses The rise in demand isn’t surprising due to the benefits for kids and communities when schools upgrade to electric. By eliminating tailpipe emissions, communities can help reduce air pollution, which is linked to higher rates of asthma, respiratory issues, and lower IQ levels in children and teens.🙌 The good news is more rounds of funding are on the way. The future of electric school buses is looking bright!😎⚡ https://lnkd.in/grQW7mjW

School buses are getting cleaner in #Washington state after this year's legislative session. Lawmakers in #Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses. Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly. "As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained. Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses. Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective. "You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected." Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why. "If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.

🚌. ESB Data Alert! WRI just released an article highlighting detailed electric school bus adoption data from the third and fourth quarter of 2023. Thanks to authors Brian Zepka Lydia Freehafer and Leah Lazer we can see how ESBs continue to be a go-to option for states and districts across the country, with a growing focus on underserved communities: 👀What caught our eye? ⚡️Every U.S. state, except Wyoming, has electric school bus commitments, as well as five tribal schools (as defined by NCES), one private school operated by a tribal nation, Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ⚡️Georgia is now one of the top 10 states with the most committed electric school buses for the first time since tracking began (285). ⚡️Seventy five percent of the 1,132 U.S. school districts or private fleet operators with electric school buses by December 2023 have committed to more than one bus. ⚡️Overall, ESBs continue to be largely concentrated in historically underserved school districts, mostly due to the CSBP’s prioritization criteria. 89% of committed ESBs are located in school districts with the highest percentages of people of color. ⚡️Before the EPA's Clean School Bus Program awards in 2022, the largest percentage of electric school buses were in districts with the smallest shares of low-income households. By December 2023, 66% of committed electric school buses are in districts with the highest shares of low-income households. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/d3-Mwpye

Transitioning to electric school buses reduces school transportation costs considerably while improving student health outcomes. Dive in to the costs, advantages, and trends in electric school buses across the U.S.

Electric school buses contribute to healthier air for the brains and bodies of the students they serve, making them not only right for the planet but for the children of IPS and the neighborhoods where their buses have impact. In addition to the health benefits safeguarding our children's health and ability to learn, they promise lower operating costs and a reduced noise pollution. A great start to the school bus transition that needs to scale rapidly in coming years. https://lnkd.in/gJgPgyNu

🚌 From pick-up to drop-off, real-time tracking is setting new standards for student safety in school transportation. Learn how this technology is making a significant difference in our latest blog post! 📍👦👧 https://lnkd.in/daT9CjMc #schoolbustransport #schooltransport #realtimetracking #studentsafety #schoolcommute

The Iconic Yellow School Bus is the safest way for children to get to and from school. Now the school bus industry, fleet operators and municipalities must take the next step to make school buses safer for vulnerable road users and other vehicles traveling on the same roadways with them. How ? It all starts with preventing school buses from speeding. Slowing down to the speed limit will help prevent speed related crashes and provide the time and space for drivers to avoid hazards. While this is important for safety on all roads its critical on neighborhood streets. We are proud that NYC selected MAGTEC's industry leading SafeSpeed ISA for expanding its overall fleet pilot to now include school buses. NYC/DCAS went one step further by including Intelligent Speed Assistance technology as a recommendation in their Safe Fleet Transition Plan (SFTP) for school buses. This step will help to make School Buses safer for all as they adhere to the speed limit. Want to find out more about the NYC SFTP for School Buses ? please read the article below. If you want to find out how the NYC fleet pilot has achieved over 1 million safer miles and prevented vehicle overspeed with a 99% effectiveness, please message me or visit our website MAGTEC.com #roadtozero #yellowbus #safety #visionzero #safespeed