Why electric buses may very well be the future of getting to school

School bus driver Jenifer Chiodo takes a moment to admire the orange-pink sunrise while she gets ready to spend the next few hours on the roads. Then she grabs her clipboard and jots down the date, her name, and the mileage on the odometer before starting up the engine of a Thomas Built Type-A “mini” bus owned by her employer, First Student Inc.

Chiodo drives about 21 miles on her two morning routes and 40 miles on her four afternoon routes, transporting just one or two special-needs children at a time across the suburbs of Rocky Point, New York. A Type-A bus gets just nine to 10 miles per gallon, and Chiodo says she’s come to realize how unsustainable and unhealthy her driving can be.

“I don’t even want to think about how much carbon my bus spews out into the air every day and how it’s warming the atmosphere,” says Chiodo. “Kids are breathing in exhaust, I’m breathing in exhaust... I’m very happy to help get these students to school, but I wish there was a safer and more environmentally friendly way of doing so.”