BRIGHTON, N.Y. – Governor Kathy Hochul tells News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke that she is open to adjusting the timeline on the state mandate that will require school districts to transition to all-electric bus fleets. 

As it stands now, districts must stop buying new diesel buses by 2027 and stop using all diesel buses by 2035.

As News10NBC has been reporting, districts have major concerns about the cost of the electric buses, battery life, infrastructure, and whether there is even enough room on the electric grid to power them.   

Governor Hochul was in Brighton on Friday for an unrelated event but took News10NBC’s questions on the topic.  Governor Hochul pointed out that she has set aside $500 million dollars in her budget to help districts with the cost associated with the transition.  Independent researchers estimate the price tag of a transition to all-electric school bus fleets will cost upwards of $8 billion dollars.

Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC):  “$500 million sounds like a lot of money but when you’re talking about a full fleet transition, that’s a drop in the bucket.”

Governor Kathy Hochul:  “Right, that’s $500 million this year, that’s a lot of money and we’re willing to be supportive partners to transition to clean energy transportation.  When you think about your child standing there waiting for the bus to come and picking up the other kids and the bus comes and they have the exhaust, the diesel exhaust, this is also about protecting your child’s health as well as the long-term health of our planet.  So, these are investments that need to be made. They’re always tough at the beginning but I guarantee there will come a time when we look back and say we never knew there was anything but electric school buses, but we are there to help with this transition.”

Jennifer Lewke: “We have a shortage of space on the grid as it is, when you talk about housing and commercial development and districts are worried there is just not enough power and about the costs of the actual buses and infrastructure.   Is this something you’re thinking about in Albany, have you had discussions about possibly delaying the timeline to this?”

Governor Kathy Hochul: “Absolutely, we’ve been having many conversations. This is aspirational, we want this to happen but we also have to take into consideration that there are circumstances that have changed since this went into law. First of all the availability to even be able to acquire these buses, but that’s why I have $500 million in my budget to help alleviate the cost for localities but you’re absolutely right. We need to make accommodations. This is not going to be a hard and fast rule because we have to deal in the realities that the school districts are facing.”