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Electric school buses will help transport athletes, staff for 2028 Olympics
The Compton Unified School District debuted 25 new electric school buses in February.
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Ashley Balderrama
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A fleet of electric school buses will be deployed to transport athletes and staff during the 2028 Olympics, organizers announced Monday.
Some 500 zero-emission buses from local school districts will be used for the job, which will be executed by Highland Electric Fleets. That contractor works with cities and school districts to electrify and operate their buses, and currently has school buses in Compton, Moreno Valley, and elsewhere, according to its CEO Duncan McIntyre.
He told LAist that in the coming months, the company will launch more electric buses and support services in Southern California, including in Oxnard, and that its buses in the L.A. region will be part of the Olympic fleet come 2028.
Transportation is one of the major challenges of the coming Olympic Games, which will host events across the L.A. region, including in areas harder to reach by public transit. The city is pushing a "transit first" Olympics, and buses will be a critical part of that plan.
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The electric school buses won't be for spectators. Olympics organizers said they'll carry athletes, personnel and officials like referees. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass reacted to plans for the electric school buses at a news conference outside the Coliseum on Monday.
"By reimagining school buses that would otherwise sit idle during the summer, this partnership is lowering cost, reducing emissions, promoting a local workforce and best of all, leaving a lasting positive impact that Angelenos will benefit for years to come," she said.
The buses will be from school districts in the L.A. region, and the drivers will be school bus drivers, according to McIntyre with Highland Electric Fleets.
(The Los Angeles Unified School District also recently expanded its electric bus fleet, but a spokesperson told LAist that LAUSD currently has no contracts with Highland.)
LA28 did not immediately respond to an LAist question about what the districts whose buses will be a part of the electric fleet might receive in turn.
McIntyre said additional bus depots and charging stations will need to be built to keep the buses serviced and running for the Olympic Games.
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" The opportunity to electrify everything at the municipal level, it is really exciting," he said.
The electric school buses are just one piece of a bus plan for the Games. Metro has more than 2,000 buses in its fleet and plans to add thousands more to the roads temporarily for the 2028 Games, as part of a "supplemental bus system" that will provide service to venues. The school buses will be in addition to all those.
Federal funding for electric school buses and Metro for the Olympics has been in question since President Donald Trump re-entered office in January. Metro has also faced demands to electrify its own fleet faster.
Currently, 4.5% of Metro's buses are "battery electric," according to Metro. The agency's goal is to fully electrify its fleet by 2035 — a push back from an earlier goal of 2030.
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