Activity bus scarcity prompts Dixon school board discussion over electric vehicle options

DIXON – The business manager’s recommendation on a motion that Dixon Public Schools purchase an activity bus with a three-year lease that expires this summer veered into a discussion over the merits of getting electric vehicles.

During the Nov. 16 board meeting, Marc Campbell explained the necessity of paying the price of $69,500 for the same activity bus – a 2020 Chevy-Star Craft 14-passenger van – that it has been leasing.

In addition to the purchase option, Midwest Transit Equipment also offered to extend the lease at $14,939 a year for a two-year term or $12,998 a year for a three-year term.

But Campbell pushed for a purchase option given that bus manufacturers – beset with supply chain problems, worker shortages and other woes stemming from the COVID-19 lockdowns – won’t get back on track until at least 2025.

He said the need to secure it boils down to the scarcity of minibuses on the market: The price is escalating – $100,000 for a bus that once went for $50,000 – and the fact there are 10 customers for every available bus.

“]The] process of leasing is a process we have to start rethinking,” he said, adding later that “acquiring a new one a year from now will be somewhat challenging.”

That elicited a response from board member Melissa Green.

“I don’t have any issue with purchasing this van,” she said, “but I would really like to see our district going green as much as we can. … Something green, something electric.”

Campbell said he agreed, but there were practical issues of supply with electrical vehicles too.

“They are not as available as the press wants to make us think they really are,” he said.

Gates contributed, noting, “I hope as a board we get into the space where we aren’t just ‘looking at it’ but it becomes a priority for us.”

Board President Linda Wegner asked whether the bus the board was being asked to purchase was transporting students to away events, which Campbell said it is.

“I was thinking about infrastructure for electric vehicles [needed to do that],” Wegner said.

Gates said it was her understanding that conference school destinations were outside the range of electric vehicles so “we can get back-and-forth” on a single charge.

Campbell shared with the board the recent news that the federal Environmental Protection Agency had in October awarded rebates to schools across the country – including Amboy and 14 other Illinois districts – for the larger 72-passenger electric buses.

[ Amboy awarded federal rebate for electric buses ]

“Most worked with Lion Electric, who built a facility in Joliet,” Campbell said. “Lion Electric wrote those grants or worked closely with those schools … but it’s not as many school districts as you’d think. People are treading in slowly.”

Campbell steered the discussion toward the difficulty in transitioning to electric as a scheduling matter given the logistical woes of the bus manufacturers.

“For example, another bus I will soon be coming to you to lease is one I acquired a year ago, and we still don’t have a projected date when we will receive it,” he said. “Hopefully this summer. They are not easy to get.”

That complicates planning for any transition – when to replace buses that still haven’t been used. He expects a similar lag for electric vehicle and charger installation.

“We can start planning for charging stations within our grounds,” said Campbell, but his read was that it takes 24 to 36 months to finalize.

“Then let’s get on it,” Gates said.

Mention of the second bus that has yet to arrive – a 2023 model – prompted Wegner to ask: “Why not purchase that one?”

Campbell said that overall, available funding is one consideration. The other is that as a new vehicle, the district would have to bid on it. Given the state of the industry and the need to place orders so far in advance, that potentially would have put getting a replacement at risk.

Board Secretary Brandon Rogers asked for clarification on the current fleet.

“We have two buses right now? Where is the second one at?” he said.

Campbell said the district still has it and is using it.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Campbell said. “It’s the one we are not supposed to have.”

[ The story behind the activity bus the district isn't supposed to have. ]

In fact, the board had voted in April to lease a nine-year-old activity bus because the vendor – Midwest Transit Equipment – had not offered a lease extension on the second bus, a newer and lower-mileage vehicle, but offered a used 2013 one instead.

“But they are so far behind [that] they haven’t come for it,” Campbell said.

Before the discussion ended, Gates asked Campbell to provide the board with a list of the district’s fleet of vehicles and the schedule for replacements.

“Can we get a formalized plan, a timeline … when we need to be ordering electric infrastructure, vans and cars?” Gates said.

Campbell said he would.

The board then voted on the original motion and passed it without dissent.