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Southern California schools get $9 million for battery-powered buses
The Aptis 100% electrical bus in Duppigheim, France. The Ile-de-France Transport Syndicate (STIF) will launch two trials of the Aptis during the second half of 2017.
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PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images
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This fall, some Southern California student will be riding to school on battery-electric powered buses.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday unanimously approved nearly $9 million dollars to buy 33 new battery-electric powered school buses for districts across the region.
Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast AQMD, says school districts flooded the application process ahead of the vote.
"One of the criteria was that these school districts be in areas that were disproportionately impacted by air pollution," Atwood tells KPCC. "So some of these are in environmental justice areas. Others are in areas that just have some of the worst air pollution in our four-county region."
The money will be divided among several school districts, including L.A. Unified, Anaheim and Coachella Valley.
Some districts will receive funds to buy one bus but most will receive enough money to buy two.
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