Electric school buses from Pine Valley Elementary School, the same buses that the Bemus Point School District will be receiving.

BEMUS POINT – The school district is planning to submit a waiver to delay the full implementation of zero-emission buses within the district, according to Superintendent Joseph Reyda. While the school is pushing the full implementation further down the timeline, actions have been taken to begin the process of converting.

School administrators decided on purchasing some electric buses for the district following a second vote that was held in March 2025. This was done in partnership with the 2023 Environmental Protection Agency rebate program. This program allowed for 90% of associated costs to be covered. Reyda noted that the school purchased two electric buses during this time, which are expected to arrive sometime during this summer. The district has been partnering with both Young and Wright Architectural and Leonard Bus Company. These companies have been hard at work ensuring that the chargers will be ready at the district’s garage in time for the arrival of the buses, said Reyda.

However, the school will inevitably need to invest in many more electric buses to comply with changing regulations. In April 2022, the N.Y. state Legislature passed a budget that was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul. This budget created deadlines for transitioning to electric buses that state schools must comply with. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority stated that all buses purchased by 2027 must be zero-emissions buses, and that entire fleets must be zero-emission by 2035. N.Y. state took a vote in 2022 that overwhelmingly supported the Clean Air, Clean Water, And Green Job Environmental Bond Act. The bond act provided $500 million to schools to aid in the transition to zero-emission buses. These funds are dispersed through vouchers given out by the New York State School Bus Incentive Program.

The dedicated assistance has definitely allowed this transition to be more of a reality for smaller rural schools with less resources, but many schools may still struggle to perform a full replacement of their bus fleet by this deadline. Reyda noted that the district is planning to submit an electric bus waiver to delay the mandate. This waiver will allow for less than the full implementation by the required deadlines.

Reyda stated that the waiver is not yet available to be submitted, due to the ongoing creation of specific guidelines and eligibility requirements. The waiver is expected to be available by Dec. 31, according to Reyda. Upon the release of the waiver, the school will submit a request that Reyda said should grant the district a couple more years to fully replace the bus fleet.