A healthier ride to school in New York City

Update (9/17/2009) - The New York City Council passed landmark legislation that will dramatically reduce toxic engine emisssions from public school buses. See news release.

New York City has one of the largest public school bus systems in the U. S. The city's Department of Education (DOE) transports more than 138,000 students using about 6,700 diesel school buses.

Although riding the bus is still the safest way to get to school, the air inside the bus can be polluted by diesel exhaust coming from the engine and tailpipe.

Diesel pollution inside the bus can be five times higher than outdoors. Luckily, tested retrofit filters available today can dramatically reduce that pollution.

Diesel exhaust is unhealthy

The health effects of diesel are well documented. Diesel emissions are linked to thousands of premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, millions of lost work days, and numerous other health impacts every year nationwide. Children are at particular risk because they breathe in more air than adults and their lungs and bodies are still developing.

Technology exists, but funding is needed

The DOE has successfully tested various retrofit technologies to clean up diesel school bus pollution. A tailpipe diesel particulate filter (DPF) and a crankcase (engine) ventilation system (CCVS) can reduce sooty particulates by 90 percent or more.

The challenge is finding the funds to pay for clean buses. Our new report A Healthier Ride to School: Cleaning Up New York City's Dirty Diesel School Buses [PDF] lays out how a retrofit investment of about $30 million spread out over three years combined with a lower retirement age for buses, will make sure New York City’s children ride to school on one of the cleanest fleets in the country.

Investment in clean buses pays off in high health dividends

Even during these tough economic times, an investment in cleaning up buses is a smart one that will pay high returns in health benefits. Studies show that every dollar invested in diesel retrofits yields several dollars in health benefits.

In addition, New York City is not meeting federal health-based standards for fine particulate matter (sometimes called soot). DPF retrofits trap these fine soot particles, and new buses meeting 2007 federal emission standards have 90 percent less fine particle emissions than older buses with engines produced in 1994-2006. School bus replacements and retrofit installations will bring New York City closer to meeting federal health based fine particulate standards.

Our recommendations

This year New York City received $7.8 million in federal funds for mitigating traffic congestion and air quality. These funds should be used to continue retrofitting the New York City school bus fleet.

In 2010, the DOE will issue new school bus contracts. These new contracts must reflect the City’s commitment to cleaning the fleet and require certain standards from the contracted bus companies.

Our recommendations for the new contracts follow.

Large School Buses:

• Set retirement age at 16 years for all large buses (current retirement age is 19 years).
• Take advantage of successfully tested new technologies.
• Comply with current New York City laws requiring the installation of diesel particulate filters on large diesel school buses with engines from model years 1998-2006 used for general education children. EDF is also recommending diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) and CCVSs for large buses with model years 1995-1997 for cost reasons.
• Voluntarily install diesel particulate filters on all large buses with engines from model years 1998-2006 used for special education children.
• Dedicate proper funds to retrofit all 1994 to 2006 buses with engine and tailpipe retrofits as recommended in this report.
• Require the percentage of school buses meeting the most stringent 2010 federal emission standard to increase every year in each bus operator’s fleet.
• No-idling policy

Small School Buses:

• Set retirement age at 12 years.
• Retrofit all small diesel buses with model years 1999-2006 with tailpipe DOCs and CCVS retrofits.
• Re-using the DOCs removed from large school buses.
• Require each bus operator’s fleet to annually increase the percentage of school buses meeting 2010 federal emission standard.
• No-idling policy.

Finally, the DOE should actively seek additional State and Federal funds to help offset the cost of retrofitting the fleet.