At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, local moms had already gotten to work on a new initiative. The local chapter of Mothers Out Front Fairfax started campaigning to bring electric school buses to Fairfax County in February 2019, and now, they’re seeing the results.
Dominion Energy announced last month that by the end of 2020, eight electric school buses will take to the streets in Fairfax County, transporting local children to and from school with zero emissions and a lightened environmental impact.
As the 10th-largest school division in the United States with the second largest fleet of big, yellow buses (1,625), this environmentally friendly project is a feat.
Dominion Energy has offered to bring 50 electric school buses made by Thomas Built Buses to 16 counties and cities across the region to replace diesel-powered engines, and foot the bill for the difference in cost, according to Fairfax County Public Schools. Electric school buses cost around $300,000, and the local energy company will pay the additional $200,000 for the initiative.
This is just the first phase of the project (with no official date on when the electric buses will hit the pavement yet announced for this year), and phase two of the project proposes at least 1,000 additional electric school buses to the region by 2025, with the eventual goal of replacing all of the local and regional diesel-fueled buses by 2030.
This is an evolving story, with more information to be announced in the coming months from local schools and Dominion Energy. Until then, look forward to the community becoming just a little bit greener, with kids in mind.
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