Schools require many buses to help students get to and from school, but regular buses are not environmental friendly. Exhaust form buses pollute environments and cause poor air quality. These school buses use up a lot of gas (a nonrenewable fossil fuel), and cost up to $17.5 billion per year for gas and maintinence services.
A more efficient, greener way of transportation is electric buses. Electric buses run on batteries, which take away the pollution that regular buses create. Over a period of just 12 years, E-buses can save around 700,00 dollars each. This is because these buses don't break down as much , don't require as much maintenence, and do not need any gas.
The cons of electric buses are similar to electric cars. They require charging stations that cost around $50,000 each. E-buses must charge for five minutes after about 30 miles before continuing. I don't think that would be a major concern because most students live near south, but the cost of the charging stations could be a problem. In this case, the pros outweigh the cons, seeing that the money will be made back in a short amount of time, and these buses protect the environment.
The second option for a cleaner and safer environment is to get hybrid buses. Hybrids buses run on batteries for a certain amount of miles, then switch over to a gas motor. They cost about 500,000 dollars compared to the regular bus costing $300,000, but they do save larger amount of gas money and create less pollution than regular buses. This option is not as green as electric buses, but would be a step in the right direction.
Credits:
Created with images by aitoff - "cycle bicycle bike" • lcr3cr - "school bus school bus" • strogoscope - "Green" • diema - "electric vehicle charging station recharge" • Terry Wha - "Designline Olymbus in Newcastle" • Gene Hunt - "12118 - MX12ENO" • FirmBee - "office freelancer computer"