A better option is to electrify the school bus fleet so that it is non-emitting and non-polluting.  If the province is serious about its climate change goals, it needs to strive for more significant emissions reductions—electric school buses are one part of the pathway there.

And, they are significantly better for our kids’ health. Diesel and gasoline buses emit air pollutants harmful to human health at any exposure. Children are especially vulnerable to these pollutants,  which contribute to childhood bronchitis, asthma, as well as other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Why make our kids breath diesel and gasoline fumes on their ride to and from school everyday, and while buses idle outside the building?

There are currently just two electric school buses in New Brunswick as part of a pilot project in 2017. Five years later they are still the only electric school buses on the N.B. roads despite neighboring jurisdictions, such as Québec and Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), making significant commitments to achieve a 65 per cent and 100 per cent electric fleet, respectively, in the next decade.

In New Brunswick, we’re still without any major commitments beyond the pilot project. We need to do better. 

One concern of government is the high sticker price that comes with electric school buses—approximately $380,000 versus $130,000 for diesel. Nonetheless, now is the opportune time to purchase electric school buses thanks to available federal funding, in addition to the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuels.

P.E.I. accessed the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Plan to fund 50 per cent of the cost for their electric school bus purchases, totaling 82 buses since 2020. Similarly, the $2.75-billion Zero Emissions Transit Fund will pay for 50 per cent of school bus purchases and charging infrastructure, up to $350 million.