We will retrofit both large and small school buses and reduce their required retirement age
In 2005, the City Council passed Local Law 42, which mandated the use of ULSD and Best Available Technologies (BATs) in school bus transportation. Approximately 3,800 buses are subject to the law. The Department of Education (DOE) is currently working with private school bus companies to retrofit all full-size school buses. To meet BAT requirements, buses will receive DPFs, DOCs, and other filtration systems.

But several thousand smaller school buses were not considered under this local law. The majority of these buses (approximately 2,700 of over 3,000 buses) are diesels.

The City will retrofit all buses with the best available retrofit technology, including DPFs. DPFs would eliminate at least 85% of the small particulate matter. State DOT, which controls the CMAQ funds, has stated that it is willing to provide $20 million for this project and the City will fund the remaining $5 million.

In addition, in the new or extended contracts with the private bus owners, DOE will require that all buses are retired earlier than the existing 19 year limit. Over the next several months, the City will evaluate the appropriate retirement age based on cost and environmental performance.

While private school buses are not covered by the local law, the City will challenge private schools to encourage similar environmental performance.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
DOE has installed a combination of diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) and crankcase filters on over 2,300 large buses, in compliance with Local Law 42, and an additional 750 large special education buses, not required under the Law. In 2007, DOE began a pilot of active and passive diesel particulate filters (DPFs) on 9 buses. Preliminary results show that active DPFs are superior to passive DPFs given DOE's operating conditions, but active DPFs are at least twice as expensive. In January 2008, DOT applied for $29 million in CMAQ funds for DPFs and an accelerated retirement program for the school bus fleets in the next three years. The grant will allow fleet owners to retrofit small special education buses with active DPFs and to provide rebates to bus vendors as an incentive to replace buses from model years 1988-1993. On February 28, the City presented the project to the CMAQ Subcommittee. The Committee is expected to award CMAQ grants in May. The City is working to develop a cost-effective strategy to reduce emissions from the remainder of the school bus fleet in light of the anticipated school bus procurement negotiations with vendors, scheduled to begin in 2010.