At a recent Manassas City School Board meeting, Craig Gfeller, deputy superintendent of MCPS, said the district will continue to use electric school buses, but is experiencing delays in receiving them from the manufacturer.
MCPS began using three electric school buses in the 2023-2024 school year, bringing the total to 67 buses in the fleet. Those buses drove a combined total of 23,555 miles in transporting students of all ages to and from school and field trips. Gfeller said the plan is to phase in another three buses this school year, then an additional six in the 2025-26 school year.
But, the three buses for this year are not yet ready due to a manufacturer delay.
“We were supposed to receive three additional buses this summer, and the manufacturer, Thomas [Built] Bus[es], [is] looking at delivery of the buses to us towards the end of November of 2024,” Gfeller said.
Gfeller clarified that there isn’t a delay in transporting children to and from school due to this delay. And, no payment has been made for the buses because they haven’t been delivered yet.
Board Member Sara Brescia asked Gfeller if the manufacturer MCPS is using is the same as Montgomery County Schools in Maryland.
Montgomery County experienced several delays in receiving its electric buses; in fiscal year 2024, according to a report released by the county’s inspector general, only 37 buses arrived in September when the county had ordered 120 buses in total.
The report also found that mechanical failures caused disruptions in routes and more than 280 times between February 2022 and March 2024, routes were not completed. In October 2023, Montgomery County bought 90 diesel buses.
“I’m concerned about if they’re not [delivering] for Montgomery County, Maryland, how much attention we here in Manassas City are going to be getting?” Brescia questioned.
Gfeller said MCPS has a contract with the manufacturer that allows them to terminate the contract — either with cause or at will. He also clarified that MCPS does not own the buses, but is leasing them for 15 years.
“My overall concern that I already shared is watching the company’s performance in Montgomery County, Maryland, does not give me a lot of confidence,” Brescia said. “I want to protect the interests, obviously, of Manassas City, taxpayer, students [and] families.”
Vice Chair Lisa Stevens asked if MCPS had enough buses in the fleet to continue operations if the contract was terminated. Gfeller said there are enough buses, but more would need to be purchased as some near “retirement.”
“I want to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in a situation where we are purchasing buses where we had not previously allocated money for those buses,” Stevens said, referring to the Montgomery County decision to purchase diesel buses after the delays.
Gfeller assured Stevens he and Joe Yankoviak, director of transportation, had discussed the issue and were considering it for future budget cycles, but committed to providing further updates after meetings with the manufacturer.
