Families in Miami-Dade now have another reason to be excited about the new school year — a new fleet of electric buses will be among those taking students to class, thanks to a $12m grant.
Just in time for the start of classes on Thursday, officials unveiled 20 new electric school buses, as well as seven electric vans for special needs students.
The vehicles, which come with new safety features as well as no emissions, are part of ongoing efforts to make the school district more sustainable and eco-friendly.
Miami-Dade School Board members gathered at the Department of Transportation Operations Office on Tuesday to unveil the project.
“I’m going to start with a Native American proverb which says ‘we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow it from our children’ and today this district is doing right by our children,” said Board Member Luisa Santos.
READ MORE: Students will have ‘safe places’ at school, says Miami-Dade ed chief
The district is using a $11.6 million grant — stemming from a 2016 settlement between Volkswagen and the Department of Justice over emissions violations — to fund the purchase of a total of 50 electric school buses. For this initial batch, the grant covered 75% of the cost, a spokeswoman told the Miami Herald.
“These buses cost thousands of dollars less over their lifetime,” added Santos.
The unveiling came as a victory for student Holly Thorpe. The MAST Academy junior has been advocating for clean emissions since a middle school science experiment showed her school buses were producing 10 times the healthy amount of carbon dioxide. The new buses have no tailpipes, and no emissions.
“My friends and I rode the bus so just seeing how unhealthy it was, and especially not only for us but for the drivers as well, I knew we needed change,” she said.
The new buses are big and yellow just like the 999 others in the fleet, but they have multiple decals to showcase their sustainability — and they come equipped with various new safety features.
One of those is the CRS, the child reminder system. After a driver completes their run and returns to the compound, before they can leave the bus they need to press a button at the back of the bus. As they walk back there they are to check the seats for any kids who may have stayed behind. The button, once pressed, will disarm the system and open the front door.
The buses also have new features focused on the safety of the drivers.
“It’s great to be able to say that we have a safety feature for our drivers and that is if the driver does not have the seatbelt on — locked in — the bus will not go in gear,” said James Hick, administrative director of the school district’s department of transportation.
The new fleet was set to be put to service immediately as Miami-Dade students went back to school this week. Going forward, the board is looking to establish a Clean Energy Task Force by 2030, who will look into finding more ways to make the district more sustainable.
