ROCHESTER, N.Y. – As we head toward Election Day, News10NBC is going one-on-one with State Senator Jeremy Cooney and his Republican opponent Jim VanBrederode to find out where they stand on the state’s mandated transition to electric school bus fleets.

As News10NBC has been reporting, New York State has mandated that all school districts stop buying new diesel buses by 2027 and stop using diesel buses by 2035 but many schools are grappling with the cost and infrastructure challenges of transitioning to a full electric fleet. 

“So, we’ve been hearing from school districts, we’ve been hearing from public transit agencies like RTS or NFTA in Buffalo. There’s a lot of concern, not about the goals themselves, everyone agrees we need to get to this standard, it’s the availability of the parts to be able to make that conversion and the technology has to meet the need, not every school district is the same right,” says NYS Senator Jeremy Cooney, (D) Rochester.

Right now, an electric bus is about three times the price of a diesel one and school districts aren’t certain their taxpayers will agree to buy them.

Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC: “If we have to do this, they wonder, do we have to go to our taxpayers? Do we have to go to the state? I know NYSERDA has some early money available for like the studies but even RG&E told me, they’re like, ‘We’re still working out who is going to pay for everything if we have to do substations at every school district or whatever it takes to get the power there.'” 

Jeremy Cooney: “We’re not up against a tight deadline here, we’ve got a little bit of a runway. I know people are thinking smartly about the future and making sure they’re making budgetary decisions that are smart for taxpayers, that’s a good thing but we also have to recognize that technology is going to change in two years and we’ve got more than five, six, seven years ahead of us to make these changes.”

Jim VanBrederode, a Republican running against Cooney in the upcoming state senate race, sees things a bit differently.

“Coming from public safety, you never put all your eggs in one basket, if everything goes electric, there are so many problems that could arise if something goes wrong, then you got pricing issues that could sneak into this whole thing. As well as what happens if the electric goes down and we don’t have a backup source of energy?  This has to be done smartly and just forcing dates and feeling good about ourselves that on a certain date we’re getting rid of combustion gasoline engines, that’s just not realistic and again, how much of this are we going to be able to afford to do,” VanBrederode says. 

RELATED:

• Is Electric Bus Mandate Feasible?
• How is RG&E/NYSEG Preparing
• Concerns about New York’s timeline for electric transition

The candidates also spoke with Jennifer about crime, bail reform, and more hot topics in this year’s election. Here are both extended interviews: