ELDRED, NY — The age of electrification is upon us. Eldred Central School (ECS) is planning for the day when its entire fleet of school buses will be plugged in instead of gassed up.

Administrators and the school board are responding to a state mandate that all schools transition from diesel-powered to zero-emission school buses, starting in 2027 and completing the transition in 2035. The mandate is part of New York’s Electric School Bus Roadmap, the first of its kind in the United States.

Any system that meets the zero-emission standard qualifies, but since hydrogen fuel cell buses will not be developed for some time, the mandate focuses on battery-powered buses. The cost will be at least twice as great as for the diesel buses it uses now: Traci Ferreira, the district superintendent, told the River Reporter that a diesel bus tricked out with cameras and other bells and whistles costs from $175,000 to $185,000. An electric bus, without any added features at all, costs $410,000, she said.

Christopher Wojciechowski of Transportation Advisory Services (TAS) presented a traffic study at Eldred’s January 11 school board meeting. The discussion ranged beyond the zero-emissions mandate and the benefit of having both slow and fast chargers, to the idea of contracting out transportation services and, especially, the need for a new bus garage.

Wojciechowski did not identify any critical problems in the study but did point out areas calling for greater efficiency, such as late buses and route configurations.

“I don’t see a huge issue with transportation right now,” he told the board.

There are, however, bigger challenges shared by all school districts in New York. Not only is the electrification mandate looming, but the longstanding statewide shortage of bus drivers, which was worsened by the pandemic, persists.

Outsourcing

Wojciechowski went over the pros and cons of contracting out the district’s transportation services. 

“Once you outsource,” he warned, “it’s almost impossible to go back. How would you hire 12 drivers at once?” 

It’s much easier, he said, when you need to hire only one or two drivers at a time. 

Another disadvantage of contracting is having less control. Ferreira told the River Reporter that Eldred, as one of only two districts left in the county with its own buses and drivers, can do things you can’t do with a contractor, like provide spectator buses for games.

Wojciechowski told the school board that many small contractors in the area are being bought out by larger businesses, and that the per-day cost has jumped by almost $200, to $500. But although contractor costs can be more expensive, he said, they are more predicable. Other advantages include fewer personnel problems, an improved maintenance program, and the likelihood of retaining existing drivers. 

The cost of outsourcing would cost the school $1.5 million to $1.75 million a year, he said. The current cost is $1.59 million; some costs, of around $150,000 per year, that would stay with the district.

New bus garage

The school board is considering the construction of a three-bay, 100-by-100-foot bus garage. Eldred has about 12 or 13 buses and currently leases a garage in Lumberland. Wojciechowski said this arrangement could pose a problem over the coming years, when electrical infrastructure is needed.

The idea of converting an existing building did not seem practical to the board. “We don’t want to invest in a 100-year-old building that we don’t own,” said board president Scott Hallock.

He suggested a school-owned property behind the high school that could serve as building site and save money on buying land.

He told administrators, “I need to know how big a garage you want, and how many buses.”

“This is going to be a mess,” he continued. “This is going to cost people a lot of money, so we’re going to do the best we can.”

Wojciechowski said grants are available to cover 90 percent of the upgrades.

Fereirra asked whether diesel vehicles should be separated from electric vehicles for safety reasons. Wojciechowski said there was no requirement to separate the two, and having them together did not present a hazard.

Missy Muller, Eldred’s director of transportation, suggested looking at Monticello’s new school bus garage while planning for ECS.

Monticello opened its 18,736-square-foot school bus garage, newly dubbed a “transportation center,” in 2022. It was part of the district’s $52 million Classroom 2020 Capital Improvement Project, which voters approved in 2018.

Courtney Bonfante, Monticello's communication director, told the River Reporter that the transportation center cost $10 million and serves two departments: transportation and buildings and grounds. Since the bond to build it replaced an expiring bond, she said, the project did not increase school tax bills. The Monticello garage has four bus bays, two lifts, an indoor bus wash, and fueling stations. It includes an expanded parking area with offices and storage space for both departments.

ECS is a much smaller school than Monticello, with student populations of 458 and 2,857, respectively.

Fereirra told the River Reporter after the meeting that administrators plan to visit the garage with an engineer in tow to see what went right and what went wrong.

Construction is expected to start this year on another ECS capital project. In 2022, Eldred voters agreed to borrow $11.16 million to pay for upgrades at George Ross Mackenzie Elementary School and Eldred Junior Senior High School. The project’s total cost is $12.73 million, with the district funding the difference from its reserves and the state providing reimbursements so that there is no increase to tax bills.

Routes

As Wojciechowski discussed bus route configurations, he said it was critical to have “real data” on which to base decisions. Someone who sees an ECS bus pass with two students aboard may think such a lightly populated bus is inefficient, but may not realize they’re the last two kids left at the end of the day, he said.

He presented a suggested new bus route, which he compared to the current one (see maps).

“Bus routes are usually thought of as linear, but overlapping territory reduces backing up,” he said.

He said there are currently six in-district routes that could potentially be consolidated to five runs. He said the trade-offs include longer time spent on the bus, increased walking distances to bus stops, less flexibility, and parental complaints.

Hallock said it was important to straighten out difficulties with the routes. “We had a kid walking a mile in the dark with no shoulder,” he said of a recent incident.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with information about the Monticello district's transportation center.