New York Attorney General Letitia James announced settlements with four school bus companies to halt illegal excessive idling at their bus yards in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. The companies—Consolidated Bus, Inc., Logan Bus Company, Pioneer Transportation Co., and Total Transportation Corp.—will invest up to $2 million each to purchase new electric buses or electrify part of their current fleet.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleges that these companies violated New York laws by allowing school buses to idle for extended periods. Emissions from vehicles are a significant contributor to air pollution in New York City, and excessive idling poses health risks to surrounding communities. The new electric buses will not emit any air pollutants. Additionally, the companies will install automatic idling shut-off timers on their remaining traditional buses and implement anti-idling training for drivers.
"School bus companies play an important role in getting children to and from school safely, but they should be able to do so without polluting our communities,” said Attorney General James. “New Yorkers are already suffering the health consequences of air pollution, and these bus companies all operate bus yards in low-income communities and communities of color that are already bearing the disproportionate impacts of this pollution. We must do everything we can to protect the health of our children and our planet, and my office will always fight against environmental injustice.”
Data provided by the fleet management system installed on all New York City school buses indicated that these companies had repeatedly exceeded idling limits. Thousands of instances of excessive idling were recorded at their bus yards located in areas identified as potential “environmental justice areas” by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). These neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted by environmental harms such as air pollution.
New York law prohibits idling for over five minutes while New York City law restricts it further to three minutes or one minute near a school building. The OAG investigation focused on instances where idling exceeded two hours during early morning periods.
Emissions from diesel-powered vehicles like buses emit fine particulate matter linked to various health issues including asthma, cancer, and heart disease. Low-income communities and communities of color often house bus yards contributing significantly to local air pollution levels.
Depending on the number of alleged instances of illegal idling, each company will invest between $300,000 and $2 million into purchasing new electric school buses or converting existing ones into electric vehicles. Mandatory training for all bus drivers will also be implemented.
“New York City’s low-income communities and communities of color continue to be overburdened by pollution,” said Eddie Bautista, Executive Director at New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. “Excessive idling...spewing dangerous contaminants into our air...We applaud Attorney General James for fighting for healthy air in our communities.”
“We applaud Attorney General James for continuing to fight...These school bus companies that continue to illegally idle dump harmful pollution into the air,” said Dariella Rodriguez from THE POINT CDC.
“Idling school buses spew carcinogenic diesel exhaust...But electrifying these fleets presents a viable clean energy solution,” said Alok Disa from Earthjustice.
“This settlement shows how critical strong idling laws are...especially disadvantaged communities,” said Suhali Méndez from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
This case is managed by Affirmative Section Chief Yueh-ru Chu along with Assistant Attorney General Andrew G. Frank under Deputy Bureau Chief Monica Wagner's supervision within the Environmental Protection Bureau led by Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic.
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