A few months ago, Vice President Kamala Harris gleefully announced that the latest earth saving plan was to convert all bus fleets from diesel/compressed natural gas to electric. This is yet another example of a very costly government solution in search of a problem.
It wasn’t too long ago that the clarion cry of environmental harpies was that to “save the earth” public transit and school districts must convert from gasoline/diesel powered buses to CNG. Many, including Santa Maria Regional Transit, Lompoc Unified School District and city of Lompoc Transit did and added infrastructure to support the conversion.
But the never-ending struggle to save our earth must unearth new solutions every so many months to continue to line the pockets of investors, some of whom are the politicians or their families that allocate public money to buy these new solutions.
But how much does all this cost?
Some say it costs local government nothing since state and federal grants are used to purchase new vehicles. But taxpayers pay state and federal taxes, which are used to support the grants.
So, we “locals” really do pay for these expensive shiny new solutions each time some politicians isolated from real life family cost-of-living issues, such as paying taxes, comes up with a new idea.
The city of Santa Maria recently announced that “Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT) has been awarded $6.6 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Low–No grant for the purchase of six electric buses. This is part of $1.66 billion in grants awarded nationwide by the FTA.
“With the adoption of the city’s 2022-24 budget, the Transit Division is authorized to spend about $22 million in federal and state funding over the next two fiscal years to support the purchase of as many as 15 electric buses, in addition to the two electric buses already ordered.”
So, the first grant will pay $1.1 million per bus and the follow-on budget is going to cost over $1.45 million per battery-powered bus.
It’s unknown if these costs include the infrastructure upgrades, purchase of new maintenance equipment, repairing road, parking area and garage floor damage caused by the busses, which weigh considerably more than fossil fuel-powered versions or training employees to maintain these buses without electrocuting themselves.
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Meanwhile the city of Santa Maria March 31, 2022 quarterly financial report stated: SMRT “Capital expenditures include $1 million for the purchase of two buses.” That’s only a half-million each or half the cost of the new electric versions.
I don’t know about you, but I think my tax dollars could be better spent on other priorities such as treating and housing the mentally ill living on our streets, providing sufficient public safety resources to combat crimes on the streets, repaving deteriorated roads in our communities, or simply reducing our tax burden.
It is low- and medium-income families that pay for all these new programs. Don’t forget which politicians are requiring these programs on Election Day.
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry. He has been following Lompoc politics since 1992, and after serving for 23 years appointed to various Lompoc commissions, retired from public service. The opinions expressed are his own.
