School buses key to addressing our climate emergency

Earlier this month, Larkspur became the eighth Marin jurisdiction to declare a climate emergency. Marin jurisdictions have committed to implementing policies to advance sustainability and reduce greenhouse emissions.

Meanwhile, with the return to in-person schooling, complaints about school traffic are rising. Hundreds of cars descend on schools at drop-off and pickup, sometimes backing up traffic for miles. School traffic is the source of 20-30% of congestion. Transit causes 40% of emissions in California, and is a major source of air pollution.

There is a very simple, welltested solution to school congestion which would also have a major impact on greenhouse gas emissions — school buses. They are an efficient, high-value public transit system. Routes can be efficiently planned, as student locations are known and clustered, and all travel to the same destination. Each school bus transports an average of 54 kids and removes 38 cars from the road. Even better, electric school buses are now available, further reducing emissions.

School buses provide benefits beyond reducing emissions. School transport reduces absenteeism and tardiness. Kids are 70 times safer in a school bus compared to a car when going to school. School buses are designed for safety and traffic laws provide additional protection to kids on buses. School buses support families, particularly those without a parent at home during the day. School transportation is an enormous challenge for families in which all parents commute or have inflexible hours.

Yet, in California, we have disinvested in school buses. In the 1980s, California provided extensive, robust bus coverage. We had buses that accommodated early and late periods, with convenient, abundant stops throughout student neighborhoods. As the impacts of 1978’s Proposition 13 began to be felt, this coverage slowly declined. The Great Recession in 2008 decimated what was left of the system. California now ranks dead last of states for public school transportation.

This is an easy problem to fix. We can pay for school transit. Marin residents seem to think this is beyond our reach. I repeatedly hear that we can’t afford it, that parents should carpool, use safe routes to school or Marin Transit.

None of these suggested alternatives are adequate substitutes. Most kids don’t live close enough to schools to walk or bike, no matter how safe the route. Carpools only remove one, sometimes two cars from the road, and are challenging for working parents. Marin Transit routes optimize for commuters, not students. Most parents don’t feel comfortable putting very young kids on public buses. Few families have workable options via Marin Transit.

It’s clear that these options do not serve families well, as most families choose to drive instead. School transit programs need to offer convenient pickup times, student-friendly locations and be reliable.

We can afford school buses. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world. Marin is one of the wealthiest counties in our very wealthy state. Mississippi, the poorest state with a median income less than half of California’s, provides school bus service to 93% of its students. Somehow, Mississippi is rich enough, but we are not?

This is not a matter of money. It’s a matter of priorities. We have the third highest per capita spending on policing and corrections, just after Washington, D.C. and Alaska. California’s cap-and-trade program has generated more than $12 billion in revenue since 2013 to be used towards programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, we do not fund school buses, a time-tested emission-reducing program.

Overall, school buses are less expensive than private cars for transporting students. Refusing to fund school buses does not reduce expenditures. It increases them and transfers them to parents, while increasing traffic, emissions and pollution.

Marin has committed to reducing emissions. So let’s take action. School buses should be part of our climate action program. We cannot credibly claim that climate is a priority while ignoring school transportation. Given our decades of disinvestment, it will take time to rebuild our busing infrastructure. This is particularly true now, as there is a nationwide school bus driver shortage due to poor pay and benefits.

With 40% of emissions coming from transportation, school transport is a necessity, not a luxury.