12.6.23 Club Meeting

Dec 6, 2023

• https://www.nysbca.com/Bill-Tracker

  • Write a proposal for a bill for opening electric school bus funding to private schools to Riverdale's assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (page).

  • Example bill:

Dear Assemblyman Dinowitz,

We are a group of students at Riverdale Country School working with SuperSelby Transportation Corporation to transition their fleet to electric buses. While we have tried many financing options, the lack of access to the incentive from the NY School Bus Incentive Program makes it hard to transition. For context, an electric bus costs $380,000 vs. $120,000 for a diesel bus and the only eligible incentive we have is NYTVIP (for $120,000), which reduces the cost to $260,000.

We would like to ask if you could propose a new bill to include private institutions in the NY School Bus Incentive Program in order to make the switch from diesel buses to electric.

Summary: Give private institutions the ability to apply for the NY School Bus Incentive Program in order to access electric transportation for their students

Purpose: This bill would help private institutions make the switch from diesel to electric in an attempt to preserve our environment.

Justification: School buses contribute to a significant percentage of carbon emissions in the United States. Our environment is under attack, and it doesn't matter if school buses are owned by public or private institutions. Both contribute equally to the problem when diesel-powered, and equally to the solution when powered by renewables. Just like public schools, private schools need to balance their checkbooks and pay the bills. This means that funding one electric bus, much less a fleet of them, is a financial dent, unrealistic for a private school by themselves. Besides climate change, there are also associated health issues for the students and drivers and air quality issues for the neighborhoods driven through. These are all issues that affect everyone living in the state, and indeed, the world - a less healthy populace today means more tax dollars going to healthcare and less productive people tomorrow. Only financially compensating green fleets for public institutions is insufficient to combat carbon emissions and pollution. To effectively reduce emissions, all institutions, no matter what they are classified as, should be compensated equally.

Best,

Students for Electric Buses