The Salt Spring Community Energy Society is gratified that the electric school bus study that we undertook a few years ago seems to have been a catalyst for the adoption of a electric school buses by the local school district.

SD64 makes electric bus choice

Minor bus route changes also on Salt Spring for next school year

BY EMELIE PEACOCK

DRIFTWOOD STAFF

May 25, 2022

The Gulf Islands School District (SD64) will be making changes in transportation this fall, hoping to bring in a new bus route on Mayne Island serviced by an electric bus and downsizing to seven buses on Salt Spring Island.

Exactly when the district’s first electric bus will start operating on Mayne depends on global supply chains hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the district’s secretary-treasurer Jesse Guy explained. The same goes for two other electric buses ordered this spring, destined to replace two diesel buses on Salt Spring.

The 45-minute, 25-kilometre Mayne Island run will serve around 20 students, with the exact route still to be determined.

The school board has committed to phasing in electric buses as their diesel buses reach the end of their useful life. The education ministry covers bus replacement costs, with the district committed to covering the difference in cost of around 50 per cent more for an electric bus.