JACKSON, Mich. — Out with diesel, in with electric. Students going to Jackson Public Schools will be picked up by electric buses in the future.
“It seems to be the trend today with technology, and we want to be environmentally conscious as well,” Finance and Facilities Assistant Superintendent Marcus Leon said.
Jackson Public Schools were awarded $8.2 million through the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Bus Program grant. The district plans to have 21 electric buses out of their fleet of more than 50.
“We’re taking this opportunity to kind of decommission some of those older diesel vehicles,” Leon said. “We’ll leave a few on the road for those longer field trips where there just isn’t recharging or refueling stations available but then the majority of our fleet going forward will be electric and propane.”
Leon says this should help make their fleet more efficient.
“It’ll help keep fuel costs down as we won’t need to purchase nearly as much diesel fuel as we were with the extra buses we had on hand,” he said. “So, we’ll be able to put those savings back into the classrooms to help students and teachers out, which is where it’s needed.”
An energy-efficient future for the school district could be a win-win.
“I think this is going to be great for our kids here at both JPS and around the county,” Leon said.
There is no timeline yet on when they will make the switch. They hope to award bids within the next couple of months.
“We do have some other initiatives going on,” Leon said. “We’re looking at installing solar fields in some of our buildings to help reduce those electricity costs and help the environment help the district and everybody out. And some other efficiencies that we’ll be looking at as well.”
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