Several Michigan School Districts To Add Electric Buses
There's nothing like getting up in the morning and slowly walking to the bus stop while wiping sleep from your eyes or rushing out of school to get your favorite seat on the bus and talk about the day with your friends. The school bus is a time for friends to be made, stories to be told, and laughs to be had but they are also some of the most expensive running parts of a school system.
School buses are vital as they are needed to help students get to and from school each day and for transporting students and staff during field trips and sporting events. Without school buses, many kids wouldn't have a way to school regularly and would fall behind in their studies. Many school districts are turning to new technology as schools look to find ways to make school buses cheaper and provide for all their student's needs.
Michigan has already seen a few school districts implement this plan within the last few years and others must be impressed as more districts have followed suit. The state of Michigan will receive $25 million to purchase cleaner alternatives to diesel buses through the 2023 Clean School Bus Program. Michigan will be adding another 104 electric buses across 27 school districts.
They are looking to make this change not only to have reliable transportation for their students that won't involve fuel prices but also because typical diesel buses emit large amounts of harmful exhaust and disproportionately contribute to poor air quality. Meanwhile, the healthier counterpart, electric buses create zero tailpipe emissions and less than half of the greenhouse gas emissions.
Below is a list of school districts that have signed up for the program and how many buses they plan to purchase:
- Ann Arbor Public Schools -- Four buses, $800,000
- Lansing Public Schools -- Five buses, $1.73 million
- Pellston Public Schools -- One bus, $200,000
- Au Gres -- One bus, $345,000
- Traverse City -- One bus, $200,000
- Allen Park Public Schools -- Five buses, $1.04 million
- Anchor Bay School District -- Three buses, $600,000
- Brown City Community Schools -- One bus, $345,000
- Cass City Public Schools -- Two buses, $690,000
- Chippewa Valley Schools -- Two buses, $400,000
- Comstock Public Schools -- Three buses, $400,000
- Kentwood Public Schools -- Four buses, $800,000
- Northville Public Schools -- One bus, $200,000
- Saline Area Schools -- Three buses, $600,000
- Southfield Public School District -- One bus, $220,000
- Stockbridge Community Schools -- Four buses, $800,000
- The Dearborn Academy -- Three buses, $1.04 million
- Three Rivers Community Schools -- Two buses, $400,000
- Troy School District -- Two buses, $400,000
- Vanderbilt Area Schools -- One bus, $200,000
- Woodhaven-Brownstown School District -- Two buses, $400,000
Alongside these school districts, the following two school districts have been tentatively selected for funding pending the completion of their application:
- Lamphere Public Schools -- Two buses, $400,000
- North Adams-Jerome Public Schools -- Five buses, $1 million
The state of Michigan also plans to help as they have allocated $125 million in state funds to help schools replace their oldest diesel buses with new electric school buses and other cleaner alternatives.
Here's a look at some throwback school buses:
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Gallery Credit: Airbnb
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