Ride the Decarbonization Bus to Fight Climate Change

We don’t think about a trip on a bus as an investment in slowing climate change. But your trip on an electric bus can make a big difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the EPA, the transportation sector represents 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

But the International Energy Agency says that in 2022, electric bus sales represented just 4.5% of global bus sales (which translates to about 66,000 electric buses), so there’s lots of room for growth.

We need to get moving on this because, as the US Department of Transportation notes, “every zero emission bus is able to eliminate 1,690 tons of CO2 over its 12-year lifespan. This is equivalent to taking 27 cars off the road. These buses also eliminate 10 tons of nitrogen oxides and 350 pounds of diesel particulate matter, improving air quality in the communities that they serve.”

There are a number of other reasons to focus on decarbonizing buses at this moment.

The first is that lots of people ride buses! According to a Brookings report co-authored by Tracy Loh (who you can read more from below in the CityAge Spotlight), bus ridership in several major metropolitan areas has recovered more quickly from the pandemic transit dip than subway and light rail ridership.

Andrew Bui, SVP Global Bus and Zero Emissions Lead at AECOM, notes in a CityAge podcast episode that underserved communities often depend on buses, and switching to zero-emission buses will benefit them by reducing emissions in those areas. Additionally, he says, the vehicle and infrastructure technology is advancing quickly, which bolsters this option. And lastly, he explains, the funding’s there for transit agencies to make this switch.

Bui says digitization of grid and charge management systems is key to getting this to work smoothly.

And we can’t ignore school buses. “Student transportation in the US is the largest mass transit system — 27 million kids travel twice daily,” says Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO of tech-focused transportation company Zum, in a recent CityAge podcast episode.

Zum’s model is to take on school bus transportation contracts and within two to five years, electrify the fleet. In the meantime, they use technology to optimize routes, which means shorter trips and fewer buses on the road, which results in lower carbon emissions.

Want to learn more about transportation decarbonization? Then register for CityAge’s The Urban Zero Challenge event in Vancouver on Feb. 6, which will include expert discussion of zero-emission transportation.

You may also want to read this summary report from CityAge’s Decarbonize Houston event, which featured insights from Kimberly Williams, Chief Innovation Officer at Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.