"Bus operator First Student and utility Con Edison are advancing a $9 million pilot that offers a cleaner commute for students and a power boost to the urban grid."
"NEW YORK CITY — School districts nationwide are grappling with record diesel prices this fall as they resume shuttling students back and forth. But filling up isn’t a problem for some of the newest buses in New York City. That’s because these 10 long, yellow vehicles plug into the electric grid.
On a clear, sunny morning in mid-September, the gleaming battery-powered buses were parked at a depot in East New York, a residential neighborhood on the outer edges of Brooklyn. First Student, a school services transportation provider, and the utility Con Edison were there to mark the completion of the initial phase of their $9 million pilot project.
The ongoing initiative is meant to show how the city can replace thousands of its polluting diesel buses with cleaner models — and do so in a way that benefits the stressed-out urban grid, not overwhelms it.
“This is about how we’re going to make this cost-effective so that every student in [NYC] can eventually enjoy an emissions-free ride,” Kevin Matthews, First Student’s head of electrification, said at the depot."
