Press Release: Two Million Students Ride the Bus to School – Who Gets Left Behind in the Electric Transition?

Pivotal moment for Canada’s transition to low-carbon student transportation can either exacerbate or alleviate inequities.  

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Peterborough, ON – September 3, 2025 – Over two million children across Canada return to school this September by bus. A new report from the Canadian Electric School Bus Alliance (CESBA) calls on federal and provincial policymakers to ensure the transition to electric school buses doesn’t leave anyone behind. 

The report, Embedding Equity in Canada’s Transition to Electric School Buses, examines impacts on certain groups, including Indigenous communities and students with disabilities. The report considers impacts throughout the entire lifecycle of electric school buses, including resource extraction, manufacturing, adoption, use, and disposal. 

The timing of the report is crucial. With fewer than 4 per cent of Canada’s 51,000 school buses currently electric, the transition is at a decisive moment. Nearly 70 per cent of those 51,000 buses will be replaced in the next 2-7 years. Now is the time to ensure those buses are replaced with electric counterparts in ways that address rather than reinforce inequities.  

Read the report here (PDF download) 

“We’ve been so focused on getting electric buses on the road that we haven’t asked the tough questions,” says Valérie Tremblay, lead author of the report and Sustainable Mobility Lead with Green Communities Canada.

“Why do Indigenous communities still lack access, even as they bear the costs of resource extraction? Why aren’t we designing more electric school buses with wheelchair lifts and deploying them on routes that service children with disabilities? Where do diesel and electric buses go at the end of their lifespans? These questions are how we bring intention and equity to this transition.” 

“Equity isn’t a side issue—it’s the key to making electric school buses work for everyone,” says Nicole Roach, Director of Sustainable Mobility at Green Communities Canada. “When we plan for inclusion, we build systems that are smarter, stronger, and more sustainable.” 

Recommendations and information about their contexts and impacts are listed below, including universal bus design, improved funding access, better working conditions, workforce development programs, stronger disposal mechanisms, and more accountable extraction practices. The report provides details about how each recommendation applies to specific federal and provincial governments and ministries.  

Recommendations in context:   

• Ensure all new electric school buses are accessible by updating procurement guidelines and safety standards to support a wider range of models with universal design features. 
• • The risks of diesel fumes are especially concerning for students with disabilities, who are twice as likely to develop asthma. Diesel fumes contain carcinogenic particulates, vapours, and gases linked to cancer, heart issues, asthma, and cognitive impairments. By eliminating tailpipe emissions, electric school buses reduce exposure to these pollutants, improving school attendance, and academic performance. Students also report fewer headaches and greater comfort on electric school buses.  

• • There have been challenges with limited range on the type of minibus most often used to transport students with physical disabilities. Most full-size school buses can now be equipped with wheelchair lifts at the rear, which helps to address these equity concerns. 

• Improve access to electric school bus funding in Indigenous communities, under-resourced communities, and areas that are underserved based on air quality and census data about health outcomes. 
• • Bus costs in Indigenous and remote communities are roughly double (or more) those of provincially led or urban-based operators. In Alberta, for example, it costs $363 to transport an urban student compared to $1,279 to transport a student in a northern or remote community. Factors like remoteness, longer travel distances, and poor road conditions (increased repair frequency and cost) contribute to this disparity.  

• • Indigenous and remote communities can often face capacity limitations that impede access to funding. For example, a single staff person may serve multiple roles – principal, bus driver, teacher, etc. This leaves such communities with little time to complete complex funding applications, such as the Zero Emissions Transit Fund.  

• • Geographic and infrastructure limitations further complicate adoption in Indigenous and remote communities. Over 170 Indigenous communities are off-grid and do not benefit from energy projects on their lands.  

• • Communities located in colder climates also deal with reduced range for electric vehicle batteries.  

• Improve wages and working conditions for school transportation staff by increasing operational funding and including living wage standards in contracts. 
  • Electric school buses improve working conditions for drivers by providing cleaner air and less noisy conditions. However, range limitations may also limit the ability of workers to take on extra-curricular trips that provide a source of additional income for what is already a low-paying and part-time job.  

• Build a skilled electric school bus maintenance workforce by expanding electric vehicle training programs, modernizing apprenticeships, and ensuring mechanics have repair access through procurement contracts. 
  • Manufacturing and maintenance jobs are amongst the most impacted by electrification. Unlike fossil-fuel systems, electric powertrains have fewer components and require less assembly time and approximately half the maintenance costs. This raises concerns about potential job losses and reductions in hours over time.  

• • The report finds a high degree of geographic variation in skill gaps, access to retraining programs, and a concentration of new jobs in Quebec and the United States of America.  

• Enable the safe use of repowered school buses (e.g., diesel or gasoline fueled buses) that have been converted to run on electricity by funding pilot projects, updating safety standards, and allowing extended use of certified converted vehicles. 
  • A growing number of firms in North America and Europe are converting diesel school buses to electric models. This approach significantly reduces lifecycle environmental and social impacts at roughly half the cost of a new electric school bus.  

• • Such conversions remain uncommon in Canada. Current Canadian manufacturing standards (CSA D250) prohibit repowered buses from transporting students, as the conversion voids the original equipment manufacturer guarantee, making the vehicle ineligible for registration or insurance. 

• Regulate the export of decommissioned school buses to countries with weaker protections by updating export controls. 
  • In most jurisdictions in Canada both fossil fuel and electric buses are subject to mandatory retirement at 12 years of service.  

• • No federal or provincial regulatory framework currently governs the disposal of either fossil fuel or electric school buses.  

• • Outdated diesel school buses are often exported to countries with weaker air quality and vehicle safety standards. This practice shifts environmental burdens onto already disadvantaged populations, where continued use of high-emission buses contributes to poor air quality and related health issues. 

• Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility policies for electric vehicle batteries to ensure safe recycling, hold manufacturers accountable, and protect communities from disproportionate environmental harm. 
  • In Canada, the only coordinated initiative to dispose of electric vehicle batteries is the EV Battery Recovery Program, a voluntary scheme launched in 2023 by 16 manufacturers.   

• Adopt Stronger Social, Labour, and Environmental Protections to advance corporate accountability and respect for Indigenous rights in resource development.  
  • Internationally, Canada has an outsized role to play when it comes to the equity implications of resource extraction. Almost half of publicly listed mining companies are based in Canada. The United Nations Human Rights Council has highlighted a pattern of human rights abuses by Canadian extractive industries operating abroad. These abuses are often well-documented yet insufficiently deterred by the Canadian government, necessitating global standards on business and human rights.  

• • Domestically, EV mining is expected to drive a 15 per cent increase in employment in Canada, but a majority of businesses anticipate that wages will remain flat. Canada ranks second globally for the number of known mining accidents. Workers are not in a strong position to advocate for better conditions. Union coverage in the private sector (including mining) fell from 21.3 per cent in 1997 to 15.5 per cent in 2023. While women and immigrants respectively make up approximately 50 per cent and 30 per cent of Canada’s workforce, they account for only 16 and 10 per cent of the mining workforce. 

• • EV mining presents both challenges and opportunities for Indigenous communities in Canada. While public investments in mining infrastructure can divert resources from essential services and tax breaks reduce public revenues, mining also offers direct benefits. For example, Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) can provide revenue for Indigenous governments and employment opportunities, as Indigenous people make up 12 per cent of the mining workforce despite being only 4 per cent of the national labour force.