On the Agenda for this committee meeting was a discussion of the MCPS electric school bus purchase.
The entire discussion lasted 3 minutes. There was no explanation for the bizarre agenda item from January 11, 2023, that was removed from the meeting agenda without explanation.
In today's 3 minute discussion the public learned that out of 86 electric school buses that have been received by MCPS, on average only about 60 are in use each day.
Why?
Board members didn't ask any questions.
Why don't Board of Education members care that on average 30% of the electric school buses at the MCPS bus depots aren't in use each day?
Is this purchase sustainable for the future? What are the long-term implications of procuring school buses that aren't in use each school day?
how does this this compare to the gas bus use? I wouldn't want my children riding on buses that don't have time to maintenance and safety checks. Operating under the assumption that all or nearly all buses will run each day is a recipe for disaster
ReplyDelete30% of diesel buses are sitting at the bus depot every day for maintenance and safety checks? Really? Where are you getting that number? That a huge percentage of the fleet that is idle. That's about 474 buses a day, by your statement.
DeleteBut more to the point, who said that the electric school buses were off the road because of maintenance or safety checks? That wasn't stated in the meeting.
If you are actually worried about a disaster, then you might want to investigate. who owns the electric school buses that MCPS is using. MCPS doesn't own them, who does? When you find that out find out who is taking out insurance policies on the electric school buses. MCPS already said they weren't insuring the buses. Who is? Is anyone?
DeleteIt's quite likely that you are wrong. MCPS did not purchase electric buses at all, they don't own them or lease them. They are the property of a company called HET MCPS, LLC. MCPS did not bring these buses to the depots for future use! They were brought to replace existing, in use diesel buses.
DeleteIt's silly to be concerned about waste in educational resources? That's your choice. MCPS is paying full price for these electric buses without the benefit of any grants or subsidies. If the buses aren't in use, what are they paying for?
If 30% of the electric buses are not in use on any given day, that's 30% of the diesel school buses that they replaced. That's astonishing.
The slide that was posted at the end of the presentation on the electric buses stated in contradiction to the presentation that 84 electric buses were deployed. Staff's numbers are not adding up and the BOE must hold staff accountable.
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