WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 1, 2008) — School bus contractors are talking and it seems the federal government is listening, according to John Corr, former National School Transportation Association leader and president of the Trans Group.

Corr and NSTA delegates spent a portion of Wednesday with congressional representatives and senate staffers discussing how increased federal funding for school transportation could help efforts to improve the environment.

According to Corr, when NSTA first started its annual trips to Capitol Hill five years ago, many legislators assumed all schools ran their own transportation services and did not even know private contractors existed. Today, congressional representatives are beginning to recognize the importance of school transportation services as well as the unique needs of the private side of the industry, he added.

NSTA members repeatedly pressed for broader federal funding for school buses, asking representatives to look into allowing contractors to apply directly for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act funds. Currently, only school districts and non-profits can apply for grants that can help to purchase retrofits, anti-idling technology, new vehicles and other technologies aimed at reducing particulate matter. NSTA would also like to see more Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funding going to school buses. Currently, these funds are distributed by metropolitan planning agencies, which frequently do not pay sufficient attention to school buses, NSTA members said.

Recognizing school buses as a part of the mass transit solution could reduce the nation’s carbon footprint by taking hundreds of cars off the road, NSTA industry specialist Robin Leeds said. One representative, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA), who earlier in the morning had a fundraising meeting with NSTA members, pledged to help with this. The public needs an education campaign to know more about what school buses can do for the environment, she said.