New York City mayor vows to have all-electric city school bus fleet by 2035

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that all school buses in New York City will be electric by 2035.

The mayor says in a news release that the NYC School Bus Umbrella Corporation (NYCSBUS), an independent non-profit that will manage school bus operations, is pursuing the ambitious goal of having an all-electric school bus fleet by 2030 and becoming a model for electrified urban pupil transportation.

Through a partnership with NYCSBUS, the city will buy 75 accessible electric school buses in the next two years to advance this goal.

“Our children deserve an environment that is cleaner, greener and brighter than how we left it, and this announcement brings us one step closer to that reality,” says New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter. “New York City is pioneering this important work to combat climate change and reaffirming our commitment to healthier school communities across the five boroughs.”

The transition from a diesel school bus fleet to an all-electric fleet will have significant climate, health and cost-saving benefits: The new fleet will reduce 30% of carbon emissions from school buses, remove enough air pollution citywide to avoid two premature deaths each year, reduce asthma emergency department visits and respiratory and cardiac hospitalizations, and save about $18 million in health care costs.  

This commitment builds on Executive Order 53 which mandates that all 30,000 of the city’s non-emergency fleet vehicles will be electric vehicles by 2040.

When that commitment was made in February 2020, the school bus fleet servicing New York City public students was owned by private companies. Starting this year, the non-profit NYCSBUS will operate 960 school buses and work in partnership with the city to manage their school bus operations.

Electric school buses represent less than 1% of school bus production in 2019 nationally. Long-term ownership costs are expected to be lower than their diesel counterparts. The new electric school buses will cost $30 million over the next two years, which includes buying the buses, as well as related infrastructure and staffing needs.