EPA awards grants to bring 38 electric school buses to WNY

Schools in Western New York will receive 38 electric school buses thanks to funding from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nearly $96 million in grants will help schools across the state invest in a total of 355 electric school buses, and $8 million of that funding will provide 25 buses to Buffalo Public Schools. Additionally, the Sweet Home Central School District is expected to receive five buses and Niagara County will receive eight.

“This is First Student’s commitment to the future,” said Kevin Matthews, First Student’s manager of electrification. “Doing this now in a zero-emissions environment, because at First Student, safety comes first. And we have now decided to extend this principle of safety to the air that children breathe in our school buses.

“We recognize that there are actually emissions that pass from the tailpipe into the passenger compartment or into the school bus. So it’s really a win-win situation,” said Lisa Garcia, Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 Administrator.

These buses should be ready for students in approximately 14 to 18 months, once all the infrastructure is in place.