Diesel School Bus Alternatives: Opportunities to Better Assess Progress of Federal Programs

Fast Facts

Federal laws have provided over $5 billion for programs to help replace existing school buses with less-polluting ones, such as electric or propane buses.

The Environmental Protection Agency collects data to track progress toward program goals but has opportunities to improve. For example, EPA assesses progress toward reducing emissions, but its emissions estimates are incomplete. Also, EPA doesn't collect complete information from some funding recipients about factors that can make it harder to put new school buses into service.

Our recommendations address these issues.

Legacy diesel school buses.

Highlights

Why This Matters

Federal law has provided over $5 billion for programs, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean School Bus program, that have helped fund the replacement of diesel school buses with less polluting buses. EPA reports high demand for the programs, which have helped fund nondiesel buses in school districts across the country. However, implementation of multiple federal programs raises questions about overlap and potential related inefficiencies.

GAO Key Takeaways

EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have helped fund nondiesel school buses through four programs—three in EPA and one in DOE. EPA’s programs provide grants, rebates, or loans to help pay for less polluting school buses, such as those fueled by propane or electricity. DOE’s program has offered grants for energy improvements, including certain school buses. Funding for the four programs is fragmented and programs overlap, but EPA and DOE have coordinated their efforts and taken other steps to address this.

EPA has committed to pay over $3 billion for grants and rebates for new buses from fiscal years 2022 to 2024. Award recipients have encountered some difficulties deploying new buses, such as delays installing electric bus infrastructure.

EPA collects information to track progress toward program goals, such as emission reductions, but has opportunities to better assess progress. For the Clean School Bus rebates program, EPA does not systematically collect complete information to track factors, such as infrastructure delays, that may hinder deployment of new buses. Further, developing a methodology that generates more complete estimates of emissions from funded buses could help EPA assess the extent to which the programs help reduce emissions.

Examples of Nondiesel School Buses

How GAO Did This Study

We analyzed relevant laws, federal documents, and federal grants and rebate data from fiscal years 2019 to 2024. We compared elements of the four programs. We interviewed officials from EPA and DOE as well as stakeholders with expertise in transportation or air policy. We also conducted site visits to eight school districts selected for geographic diversity and types of buses funded.

Recommendations

We are making two recommendations to EPA: (1) to gather information to verify deployment of rebate-funded buses; and (2) to develop a methodology for more complete estimates of emission reductions from its programs. EPA generally agreed with the recommendations.

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Recommendations

We are making two recommendations to EPA: (1) to gather information to verify deployment of rebate-funded buses; and (2) to develop a methodology for more complete estimates of emission reductions from its programs. EPA generally agreed with the recommendations.