New York Bar Association
Proactive on School Bus Idling

By Ryan Gray | Senior Editor

DELMAR, N.Y. - The New York State Bar Association hopes a grass roots school bus anti-idling campaign will take hold statewide and improve the health of students and school district budgets alike.

Thanks to efforts in this Albany-area suburb, Bethlehem Central School District implemented a no-idling program that can purportedly save thousands of dollars each year. It finalized its regulations, in practice since the fall of 2003, this past January. A parent and joint author of the original no-idling recommendations said the New York State Bar Association is prepared to assist other districts realize cleaner air in front of its schools.

"Since we were successful at one school district, we want to ship this around the state," said Joan Leary Matthews, NYSBA treasurer and a professor of environmental law at Albany Law School.

She said her favorite question to field from school officials is: "Will this cost the school district money?"

With a fleet of 150 school buses, Matthews says the school district stands to save $6,750 this school year, using a calculation from the U.S. EPA Clean School Bus web site, www.epa.gov/otaq/schoolbus/idle_fuel_calc.htm. But it only accounts for school bus diesel at a cost of $1.50 a gallon. At press time, the national average for school bus operators hovered around $2.50 per gallon, according to a recent survey by the National School Transportation Association.

A Parental Petition

Matthews formed a parent group two years ago that consisted of two other environmental laws attorneys, a local pediatrician and a representative of the local American Lung Association chapter. After reviewing a Yale University study that tied diesel exhaust to an increase rate of childhood asthma and increased chances of heart disease in adults, the advocates recommended in November of 2003 that school bus drivers turn off the ignition immediately after stopping in the loading/unloading area, and not turn the engine back on until all children have either entered the school building in the morning or have boarded the bus in the afternoon.

Soon after, Bethlehem Central responded by directing its bus drivers to begin implementing the no-idling policy while the policy went through draft stages.

The parent group then set out to advertise the no-idling policy to the general public. Knowing that state legislators have funds available to non-profit organizations that reside within their constituency, Matthews asked state Sen. Neil Breslin to pay for no-idling signs in front of all schools.

Breslin responded with a one-time procurement of $2,500, and this spring signs were erected. With a vision and the ability to mobilize the right people, Matthews said, school districts across the state - and perhaps across the country - can have their own regulations.

"I drive up to school every now and then and I smile," she said. "I think to myself, 'Wow, we did this. And it doesn't hurt to have a school district that is receptive to it."

State Support

Th e rest of the state appears to be as serious about the no idling rule. Just ask five contractors that operate over 1,700 school buses in New York City and outlying areas.

United Tom Tom Transportation, Jofaz Transportation, Rainbow Transit, County Coach Corporation, and Hendrickson Bus are paying $61,425 in fines after violating the state's idling restrictions for heavy duty vehicles. In a Sept. 26 agreement with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Congressman Charles Rangel, the bus companies must all implement a no idling policy that prohibits unnecessary idling for any length of time within one block of a school. In addition, they must create an operations plan at their bus depots to eliminate excessive idling and implement a three-year monitoring program to report compliance activities and findings to Spitzer's office.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Idling Prohibitions for Heavy Duty Vehicles, implemented in the fall of 2002, requires school bus drivers to turn off engines in vehicles over the 8,500-pound gross vehicle weight rating after five minutes, except when engaged in route operations. Sitting in the loading/unloading zone on school grounds do not apply. Penalties range from $250 to $15,000.

"Companies have the opportunity to avoid paying fines as long as there is evidence they are in compliance with our full settlement," explained Judith Enck, an environmental policy advisor in the attorney general's office. Any fines that are paid out go into the state's general fund.

With no idling on its books, Bethlehem Central sets the bar even higher. Recently, Port Washington School District on Long Island also enacted a no idling.

"We applaud the bar association's policy and leadership on this issue," Enck said. "It's a fabulous model because many members of bar associations are also parents. This is something concrete they can do at their children's schools. Their efforts are a model for other bar associations across the country."

And as complex an issue as idling can be, she added that the NYSBA proposal was easy for Bethlehem Central to understand, unlike the EPA's Clean Air Act, which she likened to "alphabet soup."

Source: School Transportation News, November 2005. All rights reserved.