Richmond electric bus coming in next school year

Clarifying the details of an announcement made last Friday in Richmond, the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB) has issued a press release explaining that a second electric school bus will be added to its bus fleet in its new acquisitions for the 2018 - 2019 school year. As mentioned in Monday’s Record, the bus will operate in the Richmond area, serving both Richmond Regional High School and St. Francis Elementary School. The bus seen last week in Richmond was the one already at work in the Sherbrooke area.

“The new model we are looking at purchasing will have one more battery than our current electric bus, allowing for more time between charges,” explained Bruce Banfill, Coordinator of Transportation for the ETSB. “Currently our charging station is in Sherbooke, but we are adding one to our bus area at Richmond Regional High School, so that we can offer this service in the Richmond area.”

The new electric bus will be one of eight new buses being purchased as part of the ETSB’S annual maintenance and renewal of its fleet, but the only electric one. For the 2018-2019 school year the ETSB has received funding for up to $1,595,164 for the new bus purchase.

The school board has identified having an ecological and cost-effective alternative for traditional school busses in its fleet as a priority. The option of using electric school buses allows for savings in operation costs as well as the reduced impact on the environment by moving away from the use of fossil fuels.

An error was made in the headline of an article on page five of Tuesday's Record. The headline, "Sherbrooke walks for friendship this Saturday," should have indicated that the walk in question will take place on Thursday evening, as indicated in the article.